This summer plans to be yet another blockbuster year, especially in the science fiction genre for movies. Of course most of the attention is concentrated on the eagerly awaited episode 3 of the STAR WARS saga... opening May 19th. But let us not forget that George Lucas' old buddy, academy award winning director and all around blockbuster maker Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Schindler's List) is also coming out with his latest film...and it's his first remake! I'm talking about Dreamworks adaptation of H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" the classic tale of the invasion of Earth by aliens from our little red neighbor...MARS.

The film stars Tom Cruise (Vanilla Sky, Collateral), Dakota Fanning (Hide & Seek, Uptown Girls), and academy award winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River). This is Cruise' second time with Spielberg, their previous collaboration was in 2002's "Minority Report" an effective adaptation to the late Philip K. Dick short story. The trailers are in theatres now and are quite impressive even though they show no aliens as of yet...none other than ILM, Lucas’ effects arthouse factory, is furnishing the effects for the film.

Yes, this is a remake, in fact "War of the Worlds" has been done quite a few times on screen, just with different titles, "Independence Day"(1996) comes to mind as the most recent version of Wells' story. The original film version of "War of the Worlds" was released in 1953 by Paramount Pictures and starred; Gene Barry & Ann Robinson...the film was directed by Byron Haskin.