Werewolf By Night Director Michael Giacchino Will Remake Them! At Warner Bros

Hot off the Disney+ debut of "Werewolf By Night," composer-turned-director Michael Giacchino has his sights set on another monster story, this time a remake of the atomic scare flick "Them!" The original starred James Arness, Joan Weldon, and James Whitmore and was about a bunch of giant, radioactive ants. 

For a certain generation of monster kids, "Them!" was the pinnacle of crazy sci-fi horror. Today's kids might be more comfortable with the Annabelles and Chuckys and Pennywises out there, but that doesn't mean there isn't a way to bring a socially conscious sci-fi/horror movie into the modern day and Giacchino seems uniquely suited to tackle such a challenge.

"Werewolf By Night" is nothing if not a love letter to classic monster movies and Giacchino's first outing as a director was a short film starring Patton Oswalt called "Monster Challenge," which lovingly poked fun at the king daddy of all atomic scare movies: "Godzilla." Simply put, Giacchino is perfect for the job.

Behind the cheesy dialogue and shoddy effects, "Them!" actually had something on its mind. The movie was a warning of how our playing around with atomic power could end the world. While nuclear destruction is still a very real possibility, Michael Giacchino has a different angle for his movie. Speaking with Deadline, Giacchino said his version will be taking a cue from the meaning behind the title: the fear of the "other." Here's what he had to say:

"It's about the other, the unknown which one refuses or can't understand. The current version of 'Them!' is about immigration, and to tell a story about the subject through a lens of this insane science fiction monster movie." 

That could very well anger some very online people who complain about "SJWs" and "woke filmmakers," but framing your sci-fi/horror movie around a skeleton of social commentary does fit with the history of this sort of movie. I wouldn't want to try to pick a fight with Giacchino about movie monsters, personally, but I'm also not recording angry YouTube videos surrounded by pictures of Jared Leto's Joker, either.

Whatever Giacchino's approach to this story is going to be, it will be an informed approach coming from a place of love and respect. Deadline says Giacchino plans to compose the score for the movie (a big hell yeah to hearing Giacchino's take on a '50s sci-fi score) as well as direct and that he's on the hunt for a writer to craft the screenplay, hoping for a quick turnaround so they can go into production sooner rather than later.