A sequel was also covered in comic form - though for the life of me I can't remember what happened in it.
As for 3D I couldn't care less if it is or not,to me it's just another fad like all the other times - end result being bad films get the 3D treatment to get you to see it.
I like the idea of the prequel especially if it ends with the dog being chased by the helicopter as suggested earlier - then they could drag Kurt Russell back to do the sequel
The suggestion that The Thing was a box office flop is not really correct with an estimated budget of $15 million it made $19.6 million in USA (imdb) so it at least broke even.