Between the remixed versions of "Hard Knock Life," Cameron Diaz's take on Miss Hannigan, and the return of 2013's award season darling Quvenzhané Wallis, the upcoming remake of 1982's classic Annie is shaping up to be something wonderful.
Opening December 19, the Jay Z & Will Smith-produced remake is just now beginning to launch its marketing campaign in earnest. The first trailer proved Annie doesn't need red curls to be charming. Now, audiences are being fed a bit more of Foxx's story.
Benjamin Stacks (Foxx's Daddy Warbucks character) is running for mayor and his approval ratings are bleak. As fate would have it, Stacks saves Annie from oncoming traffic, gets caught on camera, and becomes New York City's overnight hero ("Like Batman," he says). Naturally, the orphan becomes both a symbol and prop for Stacks' new do-gooder media profile. And, because this is Annie, he eventually tries to adopt her. (Sorry for the lack of spoiler alert, folks, but this falls under the "Out Of Luck" category in the holy grail of spoiler alerts.)
Now, all audiences need is some Miss Hannigan soup to sip and the speculations over the validity of this remake will begin to fully form. Not to nitpick, but there's already a few lyric changes to key tracks (listen closely at the 1:45 minute mark for the word-swap in "Hard Knock Life"). But, who's really counting besides this here purist? (Life Files)