Who knew that the 1985 board game adaptation Clue had so many fans? These people certainly weren’t around 24 years ago when the movie opened 6th at the box office, behind even the terrible Santa Claus: The Movie in its third week (I’ll admit, though, Santa Claus is one of my dear guilty pleasures). But suddenly, via the internet, loyalists are everywhere, up in arms over news that a new Clue adaptation is moving forward as if the original were as popular a film as the 1985 box office champ Back to the Future (which grossed as much as 14 times more than Clue).

Well, I am with the devoted to an extent. I have loved Clue since seeing it in the theater, and am embarrassed to admit it was probably the film that introduced me to the comic talents of Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn and Michael McKean (what can I say except that I was 8 and hadn’t yet seen Rocky Horror, Blazing Saddles or Spinal Tap?). But I’m not joining the protest, because I know we’ll always have the original movie. Plus, I recognize that it was anything but an original idea (never mind that it was based on a board game; hasn’t anyone see Murder By Death?). And besides, the new version, to be directed by Pirates of the Caribbean’s Gore Verbinski, hardly sounds anything like either the game or the first film. “Global thriller and transmedia event”? I don’t know what that is, but it isn’t the Clue I played.

After the jump, the internerds weigh in on their love for Clue or (gasp!) their excitement for Verbinski’s effort:

• Cinematical’s Monika Bartyzel apparently loves Clue enough to compare it to some of the most beloved classics and cult favorites: “Nothing is sacred. Get ready, because I’m sure Gin, The Movie is on its way, as well as remakes of Gone with the Wind and Citizen Kane, plus someone with enough cojones to try and replicate Bruce Campbell’s Ash.”
• Adam B. Vary at PopWatch relays Entertainment Weekly editor Nicholas Fonseca’s opinion that the news is “blasphemy” and offers his own praise of the first film:
  

  You could scarcely ask for a better script — Professor Plum: “What are you afraid of, a fate worse than death?” Mrs. Peacock: “No, just death, isn’t that enough?” — or a more talented cast. But even if you (inexplicably) think this film of dubious quality, or have absolutely no idea what I’m even talking about, I think we can all agree on this: There is absolutely no need for another movie based on the Hasbro board game Clue.

• Josh Taylor at Cinema Blend has similar praise: “The original, hilarious, 1985 take on the mystery solving board game sported an incredible ensemble cast led by the likes of Tim Curry, and it’s brilliance defies duplication.”
• Vulture claims that “everyone loves the campy original,” hence the “humorless-sounding” description of this new version.
• Nicole at Collider looks forward to the new movie: “Verbinski’s ‘Clue’ already has a leg up on its predecessor, however.  It has a director who knows how to take a crassly commercial concept (there’s nothing more crassly commercial than a ride at Disneyland) and turn it into something sublime.”
• Snarkarati’s Kirsten Anderson clearly hasn’t noticed the unhappy masses and therefore agrees with Nicole: “There was a previous film version of Clue made in 1985, but it was apparently dreadful, so Verbinski has nowhere to go but up.”
• “maestro610″ agrees in his comment on Cinematical: “If he wants to do this I’ve got to imagine that he’s interested in putting together something that could fit next to the original. We are talking about a movie based on a board game… remember all the explanation necessary is that its a new game. Don’t disacknowledge the original just step away from it.”
• Megorious seems fine with Verbinski directing, but not necessarily because of his surprising success with Pirates: “Hopefully Verbinski’s version of Clue will be more like his Mousehunt and less like most everything else he’s ever made.”
• Commenting on PopWatch, “jd” offers up another idea for the new film: “The movie they should make- in the 70’s, National Lampoon magazine did a ghetto parody, called ‘CLOO’. The character names were a bit more urban, and the weapons were straight razors and blackjacks. Very funny, in those non-PC times!”
• And at Screengrab, Scott Von Doviak sees the potential for a better film with the right casting: “I may be imagining things here, but I seem to recall a notorious bomb from the ‘80s adapted from Clue. And yet … Let the Johnny Depp as Colonel Mustard rumors start now.”
• Meanwhile, people are commenting all over the web with ideas for who to cast in the new version, but my favorite is this old chestnut, suggested by “Furzee” at Aint It Cool News: “Kate Moss as the candlestick…”

And now I present my favorite 25 seconds of the film (boy, do I miss Madeline Kahn):