Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. is in talks to direct The Thing prequel for Strike and Universal Pictures, although there's no official confirmation on this yet.

Heijningen has already been attached to direct Army of the Dead for Zack Snyder's Strike Entertainment.

Something else which is interesting is that its been leaked that van Heijningen is pushing to make the lead character none other than R.J. Macready's brother!

(As you all know, R.J. Macready was played by Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's remake from 1982)

As of right now this should be taken as rumor as nothing is set in stone.

Synopsis: "In the screenplay by Ronald D. Moore, the prequel takes place from the Norwegian camps point of view. An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog.

The helicopter pursuing the dog crashes leaving no explanation for the chase.

During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realize that an alien life-form with the ability to take over bodies is on the loose and they don't know who may already have been taken over."

Too much CGI might ruin it.

the are two words that might make me interested in seeing this one:
Rob Bottin

The reviews that i read for the game were positive. I brought the game and couldn't get anywhere in it, even with a walkthrough guide. It is a strategy/ horror survival game. I only like straight shooters. The film has to be one of the most scary ever. I would like to see a prequel. Considering how long ago the original was made, i don't care if Kurt isn't in it or not.

bring it on

how would YOU make this film good/scary/different from the original?

different from the original is easy, give the things guns. Haha. Good and scary is harder.

I think the issue with the winter storm should be removed. If the weather is no longer a threat you can involve more of antarticas wildlife: fish, whales, sharks, seals, arctic terns, and penguins. I would also like to see more aliens, according to the 1982 version it should be able to multiply fairly easily, not to mention the gigantic ship it flew in on was probably occupied by more than one alien. I was always under the impression that the Norweigan crew was there looking for the ship. If that was true, there more than likely would be troops involved,hence, automatic weaponery and explosions. If this were the case, the feeling of isolation could be acheived in a similar fashion to The Abyss, where noones going to come pick you up till you get the job done.

All you see is the smoldering debri of the Norweigan camp, when out bursts a giant walrus with crab legs and three shark heads, and the whole thing is on fire! Characters come into view, two with rifles and three with home-made flamethrowers, each firing on the monster. A large mouth-like tear in the monsters chest opens and an intestine like pile of tentacles pours out. One of the flamethrowers begans leaking fuel, and it's user catches fire. Another is mauled or bitten in two by the still burning creature. The monster runs a short distance and collapses dead(on fire). The man on fire has stopped-dropped-and rolled himself out, he's horribaly burned but alive. He desperately needs medical attention and is carried to one of two helicopters to be flown to a larger camp.

White fur emerges from the pile of tentacle guts, four legs sprout out and the shapeless creature runs off still changing,tell tale tentacles still flailing. Remaining members prepare the second helicopter to hunt down the monster.

Then we go back to the burn victim helicopter, it's aproaching a large populated base. We see the pilot and co-pilots faces, behind them the burn victim is sitting up quitely. Camera pans down to show tentacles protruding from both pilots chests operating the controls.

not bad, Milktoaste:D

I'm hearing ;ts of rumblings around town about this one - nothing specific, just rumors and whispers that tend to conflict with each other.

But word is that they may be doing a straight remake now

I'd prefer to see a sequel and treat it like ALIENS, not a knock-off of the original, but something that weaves a more action-packed story through the same world.