THE THING prequel director regrets heavy use of CGI, shares details about scrapped sequel

In 2011 a prequel to Giovanni Carpenter’S The thing was released, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. The movie didn’t turn out to be very good and I think a lot of people have forgotten that it exists. The film was criticized for its use of CGI over practical effects.

It’s crazy to me that these guys decided to make a movie about The Thing and decided not to use practical effects. The director of the film realizes this now and regrets his decisions.

Heijningen Jr. explained: “Carpenter’s version was so good and many fans were almost offended by the prequel and didn’t see the need for a sequel. But now I totally understand that it was a little early.”

He then goes on to admit that they shouldn’t have used CGI to enhance the practical special effects created by Alec Gillis AND Tom Woodruff Jr.: “I know this is a debated topic, but looking back, we were in a crossroads where the animatronics were antiquated and the CGI wasn’t good enough. We made the wrong decision to do it in post-production [when it came to] create the drawing of the monster on the computer. Now I regret it.”

Speaking about what he would change now, Heijningen Jr. said: “Better character development, less CGI and more paranoia between the characters. The problem is not being able to trust anyone. This could have been explored further.”

There was even a sequel planned! She shared some details about what she says: “We’ve been fantasizing about a sequel. Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) would escape and be picked up at sea and try to alert the world on an oil platform near the South Pole. The monster would rampage on the platform. I liked the idea of ​​the chaos of the oil rig.”

The thing it only made $31.5 million at the box office on a $38 million budget, so that sequel was never going to happen.

What did you think about? The thing prequel movie?

Via: SyFy Wire