Some may say it’s a unique concept in some ways, others will use it as an excuse to point out the lack of originality in American television. Hollywood executives have increasingly been reaching into studio vaults to convert the success of beloved movies into ratings on the small screen. Why risk making a pilot from scratch, spending months and a small fortune on filming, only to have it rejected, when you can reimagine an established property with a fan base already built in? One of the first successful experiments, now a great TV show, is Fargo. We’ve had Hannibal and Bates Motel too. This September and October, around 18 series will be premiering in America, almost a third are inspired by movies. There’s Rambo: New Blood, The Exorcist and Van Helsing coming up, and there’s more on the way. Here are some interesting pics. Many of them are either scheduled for next year or their dates are unknown, but a few will come out this year.
Lethal Weapon
Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs and Danny Glover’s Roger Murtaugh got four movies as a mismatched pair of detectives. All won hefty amounts of money, and places in our hearts. They even had Eric Clapton and Sting on the soundtrack for the third film. For the TV show, Warner Bros will reboot and recast Riggs and Murtaugh but keep hold of the 'one's a Navy SEAL, the other's recently had a heart attack' dynamic. Clayne Crawford will play Riggs and Damon Wayans will play Murtaugh. It released this month in the US, not yet in India though.
Westworld
The 1973 movie by Michael Crichton saw Yul Brynner as a theme park attraction going a little out of control. A cracking film it is too. HBO had this one on its slate for a while now, with Jonathan Nolan and JJ Abrams shepherding it. It's got quite a cast already, with Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden, Evan Rachel Wood and Ed Harris amongst the extensive cast. Jonathan Nolan has directed the pilot, which was shot over the summer. The trailer itself shows a lot of promise. Release date is in October this year.
Friday the 13
The film showed us the mask-wearing killer Jason Voorhees back in 1980. Since then, he's had a rich history of sequels, remakes and crossovers. He tends to hang around and haunt Camp Crystal Lake. The TV show is being made for The CW network, and sounds like a bit of a cross between a sequel and a reboot.
Hitch
The film in 2005 was a hit for Will Smith, where he played apparently legendary 'date doctor' Alex Hitchens. But - what do you know? - when it came to sorting out his own love life, things weren't that simple. Will Smith is involved in the TV show, executive producing a sitcom take on Hitch. Fox is looking to pick the series up, and has thus far handed the show a script commitment. It’s pretty obvious that Smith will not play Hitch this time but we don’t know the cast yet.
Taken
The trilogy - overseen by Luc Besson - made Liam Neeson a late-in-the-day action hero. Taken is all about ex CIA man Bryan Mills, normally found hunting for baddies who have kidnapped members of his family. The TV show will wind the story back, showing us how Mills acquired his well-documented set of skills. He won't have a wife or any kids yet, so it could be a long-running show if all goes well. Curiously, for a prequel, it's set in the present day. NBC has ordered a full season already but there’s no release date as yet.
Jack Ryan
There have been several films, with Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine all having a crack in the title role. All the films revolve around a CIA analyst and operative by the name of Jack Ryan. They're all based on books by Tom Clancy. The TV show sees Lost alumni Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland putting a new take together. They've cast John Krasinski as the title character, which is intriguing because he’s pretty much a comedy actor. How he’ll work as Jack Ryan remains to be seen.
Shooter
This film starred Mark Wahlberg and was directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer). Shooter is a conspiracy thriller that, it'd be fair to say, didn't really blow anyone away when it was released. It did solid business, but not much more than that. The concept saw Wahlberg's sniper being framed for murder and going on the run. The usual ensued. A plan to create a drama series around this concept has been picked up by a TV studio and although Mark Wahlberg is involved as a producer, Ryan Phillippe will be the man on screen pulling triggers and whatnot. No idea when this will release, but it definitely won’t happen for another year or so.
