We are just about a month away from the premiere of Fox’s television remake of the #1 midnight movie of all time, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the network is pulling out all the stops to make sure fans know this is one remake worth getting behind. Earlier this week, they released the full recording of Victoria Justice’s rendition of “Touch A Touch A Touch Me.” Now we’ve learned (via Vulture) that they’ve released the first full five minutes/opening credits sequence from the movie, featuring actress Ivy Levan as a movie theater usher, singing the show’s opening number “Science Fiction Double Feature.” You can watch the opening song in the video above.
The opening song is already a pretty big departure from the original 1975 movie version, as the song was originally sung by the original stage play’s creator, Richard O’Brien, but lip synced by a pair of giant red lips which take up the whole screen (lips that actually belonged to original cast member Patricia Quinn, who plays Magenta). In this new version, Ivy Levan’s usherette character takes us on a tour of the local movie theater that’ll be showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show to an eager midnight crowd. The theater is surrounded by retro movie posters, most of which feature the classic movies that the song name drops, like The Day the Earth Stood Still and King Kong.
Having been lucky enough to see the first 30 minutes of the new Rocky Horror at Comic-Con this past July, I can safely say that I think most fans will find themselves enjoying the new production. It’ll never replace the original, which is perfect as it is, but it acts as a nice companion piece to it. Keep an open mind. Think back to when they announced Grease Live, and we all thought it was going to be terrible, because, “You can’t remake Grease!” … except that they’ve been remaking Grease, and Rocky Horror, and most hit musicals on stage for decades. So why does their only have to be one filmed version for all time? Besides, if Tim Curry gave his blessing, that’s good enough for me.
The new Rocky Horror Picture Show debuts on Fox on Thursday, October 20 at 8PM.
What do you think of this new rendition of “Science Fiction Double Feature?” Is it enough to get you to set your DVR for the new Rocky? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.
Image: 20th Century Fox
