In 1994, Meryl Streep, David Straithairn, and Joseph Mazzello played a family that had the bad luck of crossing paths with criminals played by Kevin Bacon and John C. Reilly while on a river rafting trip in the thriller The River Wild. Deadline reports that filming is now underway on a reimagining of The River Wild, which is coming to us from Universal 1440 Entertainment, the direct-to-video division of Universal. This new take on the concept stars real-life couple Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, along with Taran Killam, Meester’s co-star in the TV series Single Parents.
Curtis Hanson directed the original The River Wild from a screenplay by Denis O’Neill (with uncredited revisions by Carrie Fisher). Ben Ketai (StartUp) is directing the new film from a script he wrote with Mike Nguyen Le (Patient Zero). This time around, the story follows
a brother (Killam) and sister (Meester) who love but distrust each other, as they embark on a white-water rafting trip with a small group, including the siblings’ childhood friend (Brody), who turns out to be more dangerous than he appears.
Ogden Gavanski is producing the new The River Wild. The film will debut on non-theatrical platforms sometime in 2023.
Universal 1440 Entertainment’s Glenn Ross had this to say about the project:
We are excited to announce a thrilling new The River Wild story, with fresh characters and a story that brings the universe to new audiences and fans of the original. The production features a talented cast, and we think movie lovers will be excited by director Ben Ketai’s modern take on the popular classic film.”
I can’t say I ever expected The River Wild to get the reboot / remake / reimagining treatment, but the concept made for a good thriller the first time around, so it might work for another movie as well. And it sounds like the new movie will be able to stand on its own well enough, since the character situations are very different from what Streep, Bacon, and their co-stars played in the original.
Are you a fan of The River Wild? Will you be watching this reimagining? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Here’s an image of Meester, Brody, and Killam on location in Hungary: