The sequel to WarGames is getting momentum, with a director now being added to the mix: noted auteur Stuart Gillard will be helming the (I think) DTV sequel, hot off work like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III and the TV show Charmed.
I don’t fully understand why this is a sequel and not just a remake – is the WarGames name so strong in name recognition that people have been chomping at the bit for a follow-up? The story – about a teenage hacker whose life “gets turned upside [down] after playing an online terrorist-attack simulator game against a government super-computer designed to profile potential terrorists. All hell breaks loose when Homeland Security is convinced that he’s a terrorist intent on disrupting the fabric of society” – is pretty much just the original updated for the 21st century. By the way, word is that the supercomputer in this one is not WOPR but, in a masterstroke of tie-in marketing, CHALUPA.
WarGames 2: The Dead Game is filming this November.