In 2005, director Timothy Hines did a War of the Worlds movie, the same year that Tom Cruise also did a War of the Worlds movie. He said he didn't like it, now he says he's calling a do-over.

RevSF's Geek Curmudgeon Rick Klaw didn't like it, either. He said in his review, "Black and white gives way to color as the narrator finishes. Little did I know that it would all be downhill from there."

Now Hines is doing a new version of the War of the Worlds story in War of the Worlds: The True Story. Here's movie site.

It will look like a documentary, interviewing a survivor of the invasion, and showing archive footage. Producer Susan Goforth said in a press release, "People know there was no real Martian invasion a hundred years ago, right? So laying it out as if it were actual history is a lot of fun. And it hasn’t been done this way since that original Orson Welles broadcast."

That really sounds neat. Of course, I thought a literal adaptation of the novel in a movie sounded neat, too. And so did Hines and Goforth, but they weren't happy with how the movie turned out.

Goforth said the new movie won't reuse footage or effects from the 2005 movie, and it will still be out on Amazon and Netflix. "Who are we to take it away from (the fans)? Even if it’s to have parties and laugh at it. But I can already see that the new remake, War of the Worlds – The True Story, is going to be a lot more satisfying as a representation of Wells. At least that’s our plan.”

Hines said the new effects will be "way more steampunk." He said he made "neophyte mistakes" on the first one. He said, "I wanted to make War of the Worlds. But what I made was something that has a macabre cult following, like an Ed Wood movie. We pretty much stumbled and fell on our face right out of the gate."

Ouch! You never see movie makers throw their own stuff under the bus. That was like Mystery Science Theater, but by the people who made it. I'm all for giving the new one a try. It has aliens and stuff blowing up in it, so I'm in.