It’s easy to carry a debate on the pros and cons of adapting 1984 yet again — questions about timing, relevancy, and such all serve as the backbone — but, debate though you may, Imagine Entertainment seem to be taking this all the way forward. Deadline reports that, this time around, George Orwell will have his iconic story of oppression and rebellion translated by Noah Oppenheim — writer of Gary Ross‘ potential Houdini film, the pending WarGames remake, a remake of Snabba Cash, and the Spielberg-produced Jackie Onassis biopic. Or, in other words, nothing you’ve yet to actually see.

It’s a good step for the project, sure, though not necessarily one that means a whole lot; frankly, I’d like to hear about a director or its stars before getting a better idea of what 1984 may bring forth. While all the work being thrown at Oppenheim‘s feet is something of a positive sign — he’s not just some schmoe being taken off the streets of Hollywood — I don’t know what he really has to bring forward and, only reasonably, can’t put my chips in just yet.

A similar item has come from Variety, who report that an upcoming Paul Walker action vehicle (building?), Skyscraper, will be getting some revisions from Philip de Blasi and Byron Willinger (Alex Proyas‘ failed Paradise Lost). The original script, from Mike Sobel, is a Towering Inferno-inspired story of construction workers trying to rescue those trapped inside a mile-high skyscraper. Not to be so dismissive right off the bat, but: I don’t know how something that simple needs to be “polished up,” one way or the other.

Neil H. Moritz‘s Original Films will produce Skyscraper in conjunction with Walker‘s Laguna Ridge Pictures, though no one else is currently attached in other capacities.

Is 1984 going in the right direction? What do you think of Skyscraper‘s new plans?