This is a troubling trend lately. From Keanu Reeves Samurai epic “47 Ronin” to “World War Z”, some big budget films have delayed their releases significantly to do a lot of reshoots. Which project should we be worried about the most?

I’m looking at just a few big projects announcing major delays for reshoots: “47 Ronin”, “World War Z”, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “Hansel and Gretel”.

Of these projects, I’m least worried about “Hansel and Gretel” starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. That may only be because we haven’t seen any footage, but it’s hard for me to say the movie’s screwed before anything from the film even comes out. Still, the fact that it did get delayed and we still haven’t seen any real footage is a little worrisome.

Next on the list is “G.I. Joe: Retaliation”. It was delayed for two reasons: to post convert it into 3D and to *SPOILER* add more scenes with Channing Tatum who was to be killed off in the original cut really early. Here’s my problem. By giving Tatum more scenes, aren’t you sort of changing the dynamic of the rest of the film? I mean, they’d have to do a lot of reshoots because Dwayne Johnson and the rest of the new crew obviously went about their business without Tatum in the original cut. What do you do know if you extend his screen time or even let him live throughout the film as well? That being said, I don’t think anyone’s expectations were very high to begin with and the trailer did make the film look fun. So, perhaps it can still be enjoyable mindless entertainment.

Now we get into the worrisome projects. I’m a huge Keanu Reeves fan. I loved “The Matrix” trilogy. I loved “Constantine”. I loved “Speed”. Heck, I even enjoyed “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”. But,  “47 Ronin” looks doomed. First-time director Carl Rinsh apparently failed to film the climatic battle scenes up to the studio’s standards, so they’re reshooting them with him under supervision. Not a good sign. Also, they are reshooting scenes so Reeve’s romance in the film is played up. Sounds like a wildly uneven film that will be a mess rather than an epic film.

But, that pales in comparison to “World War Z”. On paper, this sounded good. Great book adapted into a film starring Brad Pitt and directed by Marc Forster. Of course, now, there are problems between Pitt and Forster and the studio is bringing in writers to rewrite the WHOLE THIRD ACT. This is after you already fundamentally changed the plot. So…basically…this film looks more dead than the zombies in it.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.