If you’ve been listening to the Film Junk Podcast over the past few weeks, you’ll know that there is an on-going debate as to whether or not a fictional film based on a documentary should be considered a remake. While there are some who insist that a documentary by definition cannot be remade as a fictional film, I maintain that there are some situations where the term does apply. Case in point: Sony Pictures is setting up a fictionalized version of Katie Dellamaggiore’s documentary Brooklyn Castle, about a group of kids from an inner-city junior high school who happen have the best chess team in the country. Scott Rudin and Eli Bush will produce along with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver, and now they have chosen the creative team of the cancer dramedy 50/50 to write and direct. The new movie will also be called Brooklyn Castle… so, yep, sure sounds like a remake to me.

According to Deadline, director Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies, The Wackness, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) will reteam with 50/50 screenwriter Will Reiser on Brooklyn Castle for Sony Pictures. The remake rights were acquired by Sony and Scott Rudin Productions after the film’s premiere at SXSW back in 2012. Rudin is developing several other projects with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg including Console Wars, which was just announced last week.

I haven’t seen the Brooklyn Castle documentary yet myself but it will be interesting to see how closely they stick to the subjects and narrative. The ironic thing is that a lot of the documentaries that are in the process of being “remade” are already pretty accessible on their own. Alas, it seems that the average moviegoer will only take notice if a movie has a few big name actors attached. What do you think, are you interested in Brooklyn Castle and does this constitute a “remake”?