If a movie was made in the ’80s there’s a good chance it’s due for a reboot, which appears to be the philosophy behind Summit Entertainment’s just-announced HIGHLANDER “re-imagining” helmed by FAST AND FURIOUS director Justin Lin, with IRON MAN screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holoway working the script. So what exactly is the plan here? From the press release:
“Summit’s film will expand on the original HIGHLANDER’s core mythology of immortals battling amongst us, hunting each other through the ages by tapping its newly minted creative team to take its re-imagination to new heights. Plans call for the re-imagination to spur a new franchise for the studio.
“We are privileged to have this amazing opportunity to reinvent one of the great franchises,” said Patrick Wachsberger, co-chairman of Summit Entertainment. “Neal and Justin have proven more than once that they can deliver an entertaining and exciting blockbuster.”
The original 1986 film followed the epic tale of Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scotsman who can only be killed by decapitation. The movie spawned four more films, three TV series and of course, an equally immortal catchphrase, “There can be only one!”
Maybe it’s just that I’m so exhausted from hearing about every comic, toy and board game being turned into a movie, but this doesn’t seem like a half bad idea. That’s a great pair of writers, and Lin is a solid director (if you and I were friends on Movie Fan Central you’d know my love for THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT) and there’s definitely a lot of good mythology to work with here. Whether a good movie can actually come of it however, remains to be seen.