We recently lamented the lack of classic contemporary monster figures in our horror-themed Collision podcast, and now, up pops news on the remake of Universal's Creature from the Black Lagoon.  The studio has tapped Dave Kajganich (The Invasion) to write up the project, a reimagining of the 1954 classic.  Produced in part by Gary Ross (The Hunger Games), whose father was a writer on the original film, Creature from the Black Lagoon centers on the titular antagonist, a prehistoric humanoid who rises from his watery abode to terrorize the terrestrials.  Kajganich's other projects include remakes of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, It and The Stand.  Heat Vision further reports that Carl Rinsch (47 Ronin) is not attached to direct.Hit the jump for writerly news on Old Man's War, an adaptation of the John Scalzi sci-fi novel. Variety reports chris-boal-old-mans-warthat screenwriter Chris Boal has been set to the task of rewriting David Self's earlier draft of Old Man's War, the first of four book's in Scalzi's bestselling series.  The Paramount Pictures project will be directed by Wolfgang Petersen (Troy), his first since 2006's Poseidon remake.  The article cites a much more involved plotline than the book's synopsis (found below) shares up front:

"Story follows a 75-year old man who, having lost the love of his life, is agrees to trade his old carcass for a younger, genetically-enhanced body so that he can join a military coalition sent to protect human colonies in outer space. Injured in battle, he's rescued by a woman who appears to be a younger version of his wife, and while she doesn't recognize him, he decides to abandon his unit and risk everything to be with her."

Boal, a former playwright, recently sold two projects to Warner Bros.: a Viking epic with  Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) attached to topline and produce, and another epic about Roman general Julius Caesar, with Jonathan Liebesman is onboard to direct.

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Here's the book description from Scalzi's Old Man's War (via Amazon):

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce--and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine--and what he will become is far stranger.