# New Watership Down Film To Be Made **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176 "2015-03-28T02:22:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/1 "2015-03-28T02:22:06Z")
I’m rereading Watership Down for the hrairth time, and I just found out they’re making another film out of it. The BBC [is remaking it](http://www.blastr.com/2015-3-11/bbc-bring-back-classic-watership-down-bunnies-new-cgi-reboot), with CGI. > [@](#): > > A successful 1987 animated film directed by Martin Rosen featured a faithful approach to the sometimes alarming material, and is beloved (or remembered in nightmares) by a generation. So why remake it? Reportedly it’s an effort to more fully capture the livilng world of the rabbits of Watership Down, with more advanced animation technology better able to render the wildlife and scenery that make up their world. I’m not sure whether to be scared or intrigued… ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/2 "2015-03-28T03:17:46Z")
Well, to begin with, the classic animated film came out in 19 **78** , not 1987. I don’t think it got much of a release here in America because I first saw it on HBO circa 1980 or so and loved it (and would have remembered it being in the theaters). I read the book the following summer, and was amazed at how faithful to it the film remained. I’m very cynical in general, and given the sissy-fication of the entertainment world over the last 20 years I can’t help but cringe to think how watered-down a treatment it would be given today. But who knows, it might have a chance if made by the BBC. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/3 "2015-03-28T04:03:52Z")
It’s one of my favorite books, and I own the movie on DVD. I, too, fear they will omit or tone down some of the more intense situations in the new movie, to be able to sell tickets to families. The animation in the original movie is beautiful, and I love the stylized El-Ahrairah sequences. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/4 "2015-03-28T04:08:58Z")
I’m interested. I’ve also read the book a bunch of times and seen/own the film but I’d be interested in seeing a new version of it. Although I like the film, it does feel somewhat dated and I don’t see the harm in in seeing the world through a different set of eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/5 "2015-03-28T04:18:58Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I, too, fear they will omit or tone down some of the more intense situations in the new movie, to be able to sell tickets to families. It’s being done by the BBC so I assumed it would be a televised film and paid for by taxes; no ticket sales required. Or maybe the BBC does cinema and my American brain never picked up on it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/6 "2015-03-28T04:44:59Z")
Love the book, though I haven’t read it in decades. Also liked the film and as a young lad I had a still of it hanging on wall, featuring General Woundwort and Bigwig locked in combat, blood streaming from their wounds. Awesome wall decoration when you’re an eleven-year old boy :D. However I think the film could be improved on in a number of ways. A few characters like Blackavar really got shafted and the does were essentially cut out entirely. Running time is obviously an issue ( unless the were to do an animated mini-series ). Still I think it could be updated successfully. Which of course doesn’t mean it _will_ be. Just as likely it will be a steaming pile of hraka. But I’ll cross my fingers. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/7 "2015-03-28T06:32:29Z")
The original did a really good job of portraying the rabbits and environment realistically. It would be good to see them even more realistic. There was a remake in 1999 but that reduced them to [a more cartoon look](http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=436844). ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/8 "2015-03-28T07:42:44Z")
I’m guessing: Benedict Cumberbatch Judi Dench George Clooney David Hyde Pierce Jeremy Clarkson Cate Blanchett Chloë Grace Moretz and Natalie Portman as a new young strong-willed fighting female rabbit for balance. Any Yank accents can be accounted for by claiming they are the descendents of American bunnies who came over to fight Hitler with Eisenhower eighty generations before. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/9 "2015-03-28T12:10:21Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I’m very cynical in general, and given the sissy-fication of the entertainment world over the last 20 years I can’t help but cringe to think how watered-down a treatment it would be given today. But who knows, it might have a chance if made by the BBC. I see what you did there. [My emphasis] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/10 "2015-03-28T14:32:29Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The original did a really good job of portraying the rabbits and environment realistically. It would be good to see them even more realistic. > > There was a remake in 1999 but that reduced them to [a more cartoon look](http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=436844). Oh yes, and didn’t they make Blackberry into a female? (Sigh!) ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/11 "2015-03-28T15:16:08Z")
Remakes aren’t dangerous. I’d like to see it. Give my daughter another shot at it. She went tharn trying to read it and gave up. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/12 "2015-03-28T15:33:59Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The original did a really good job of portraying the rabbits and environment realistically. It would be good to see them even more realistic. > > There was a remake in 1999 but that reduced them to [a more cartoon look](http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=436844). Was that a remake of the film? I thought it was more of a short-lived series of additional stories aimed for younger audiences (and unrelated to _Tales From Watership Down_). I never saw it though, just remember when they started making it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/13 "2015-03-29T00:04:45Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Was that a remake of the film? I thought it was more of a short-lived series of additional stories aimed for younger audiences (and unrelated to _Tales From Watership Down_). I never saw it though, just remember when they started making it. You may be right, I didn’t see it either. All I knew was Richard Briers was back but not as Fiver. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/14 "2015-03-29T02:49:57Z")
There’s nothing wrong with the original Watership Down film! Okay, I actually haven’t seen it in years so I have no idea how well it’s held up, but wow, that was a great film. It was really bloody. I guess in some ways I’m intrigued to see _how_ they would do it today with CGI … but my expectations for capturing the intensity of the book in the same way as the original film are not high. I would be more enthusiastic if it were a mini-series that let the creators include all the side stories that got dropped from the original movie. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/15 "2015-03-29T02:54:12Z")
This is one of my all time favorite books and I hope it’s not as tragedy like the animated film. Basically a long Art Garfunkel video. I was always hoping the folks who made “Babe” would jump to make WD. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/16 "2015-03-29T07:44:26Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Remakes aren’t dangerous. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![pseudograph](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pseudograph/32/19768_2.png) [@pseudograph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudograph)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/17 "2015-03-29T13:35:57Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The original did a really good job of portraying the rabbits and environment realistically. It would be good to see them even more realistic. > > There was a remake in 1999 but that reduced them to [a more cartoon look](http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=436844). Glad I missed the 1999 version. That just looks… wrong. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/18 "2015-03-29T14:28:47Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > It’s being done by the BBC so I assumed it would be a televised film and paid for by taxes; no ticket sales required. Or maybe the BBC does cinema and my American brain never picked up on it. [The BBC is actually one of the big players in the British film industry](http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms). Some projects developed for television end up getting cinema releases or vice versa. It is not as if made-for-TV films have quite the same connotations in the UK as they do in the US and the distinction between them and British art house films is, in terms of production, often very blurred. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/19 "2015-03-29T15:04:23Z")
I was unaware of this movie until this thread, so we rented it last night on Amazon. The animation was all over the place but some of it was quite delightful, especially the bits with Frith and El-Ahrairah. It did frighten my daughter somewhat, but on the whole I’m glad they kept the bloodiness intact. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176/20 "2015-03-29T15:32:36Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I was unaware of this movie until this thread, so we rented it last night on Amazon. The animation was all over the place but some of it was quite delightful, especially the bits with Frith and El-Ahrairah. > > It did frighten my daughter somewhat, but on the whole I’m glad they kept the bloodiness intact. How old is she? I’ve always wondered how old most kids were when they got into WD. I never read it until I was an adult, though I was somewhat aware of it as a kid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-watership-down-film-to-be-made/716176.md?page=2)