Christopher Nolan’s back-to-front memory thriller Memento is getting the remake treatment just 15 years after it played in theaters.
The small-budget film, which served as Nolan’s breakthrough feature in 2000, is being remade by AMBI Pictures, a company run by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi that acquired the remake rights after buying the library of Exclusive Media Group.
The EMG library acquisition was followed by the launch of AMBI’s new $200m film fund last week – formed to finance a slate of high-end, star-driven commercial feature films. AMBI plans to use $200m to fully finance five movies in the mid-budget range of $25m to $30m and at least 10 smaller movies of under $10m each. The 400-title collection in the library also includes Cruel Intentions, Donnie Darko and Sliding Doors.
Nolan adapted Memento from a short story by his brother, Jonathan Nolan, titled Memento Mori. Guy Pearce stars in the thriller as a heavily tattooed man who suffers from a unique form of memory loss and is on a mission to track track down his wife’s killer. The movie stood out for being partially told in reverse order, and also starred Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano.
It grossed $25.5m at the domestic US box office, qualifying it as an indie hit, and received Oscar nominations for best screenplay and best editing.
“The bar is set high thanks to the brilliance of Christopher Nolan, but we wouldn’t want it any other way,” Iervolino said.
Bacardi ensured that the remake would “stay true to Christopher Nolan’s vision and deliver a memorable movie that is every bit as edgy, iconic and award-worthy as the original”.
AMBI Pictures has yet to announce the talent associated with the project, or the planned release date for the film.
