Knight Rider Movie In Development with James Wan

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Image: Universal Studios



Deadline has learned that James Wan (Saw, Insidious, Aquaman) and Michael Clear are developing a film based on the 1980s series Knight Rider, which saw David Hasselhoff’s Michael Knight racing around and battling crime in a witty, talking 1982 Pontiac TransAm named KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand). Plot details are unknown, but this will reportedly be a “present-day take that will maintain the anti-establishment tone of the original.”



TJ Fixman, a video game writer who wrote and developed PlayStation’s Ratchet and Clank and Resistance: Fall of Man, is in charge of the script. “On the film side, Fixman has sold a number of scripts Including One Night On the Hudson to Universal Pictures, Brotherhood of Magic to MGM, and...
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Well it's got potential to be a good movie, but I fear like most rebooted, redone, or recreated 80s movies/shows this one will flop.
 
I agree. That reboot from a couple years back wasn't so hot, not to mention then it was a mustang(nothing wrong with 'em but that's not KITT), and there's at least two other attempts in the 90's-2000's. This franchise has not done well with such things.
 
I'll give some credit where credit is due here. They made Aqua-man entertaining again for the first time since the guy who talked to fish was a hero back when I was 10. So that's saying something. But yea like Perter I remember the Dodge Viper looking reboot, then again when they did it with auto repairing and rearranging nanites that could be any FORD vehicle. Did we mention they were all FORD's. No matter what KITT was a FORD. Truck, SUV, or Mustang it was always FORD.

So yea they haven't had a lot of success with reboots.
 
OK so the A-Team movie was god-awful despite having a good cast. Fantasy Island was terrible...period. Please someone tell Hollywood that no one wants any more 80's reboots? What's next, Simon Vs Simon, the movie? Airwolf? Blue thunder?
 
Wait there was a fantasy island reboot movie? I had no idea.
 
Burticus said:
OK so the A-Team movie was god-awful despite having a good cast. Fantasy Island was terrible...period. Please someone tell Hollywood that no one wants any more 80's reboots? What's next, Simon Vs Simon, the movie? Airwolf? Blue thunder?
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I wouldn't mind the reboots/remakes if they actually put a proper amount of effort into them. But since they have no original ideas, and only try to cash out on old franchises by doing the least amount of work, it will never work.
 
Peter_Brosdahl said:
I agree. That reboot from a couple years back wasn't so hot, not to mention then it was a mustang(nothing wrong with 'em but that's not KITT), and there's at least two other attempts in the 90's-2000's. This franchise has not done well with such things.
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"Couple years back." The series with the GT500KR aired 12 years ago in 2008.
Grimlakin said:
Wait there was a fantasy island reboot movie? I had no idea.
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It was a bad horror movie and is considered a prequel to the official canon of the original movie. So it wasn't a reboot, I'm sure much to the dismay of onlookers. They did the same thing to John Carpenter's The Thing in 2011.

 
Just stop. There have been so many attempts to bring Knight Rider back and all of them have failed to do so in a logical or satisfying way. Each iteration has been anywhere from horrendously cheesy to downright bad. The problem is that people who try and reinvent the show don't seem to understand what made the original show good, nor recognize that the show is a product of its time. It doesn't exactly hold up well if you go back and rewatch it. There are a few good episodes, but aside from its inherent charm its not great stuff when seen through modern eyes.

Peter_Brosdahl said:
I agree. That reboot from a couple years back wasn't so hot, not to mention then it was a mustang(nothing wrong with 'em but that's not KITT), and there's at least two other attempts in the 90's-2000's. This franchise has not done well with such things.
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It was terrible. The fact that KITT was a Mustang was actually the least of the show's problems.

Burticus said:
OK so the A-Team movie was god-awful despite having a good cast. Fantasy Island was terrible...period. Please someone tell Hollywood that no one wants any more 80's reboots? What's next, Simon Vs Simon, the movie? Airwolf? Blue thunder?
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As much as I like Airwolf, I really think its a bad show to try and reboot, recreate or continue. So many of the elements that came together and made that show work would be done badly now. Not to mention, part of what made it so good was the cast. Season 4 of the show actually had a good cast as well, but the Rysher Entertainment / USA Network (which bought the rights to the show) couldn't understand what made the original three seasons so good. One element of the show that worked to make it believable was the fact that the helicopter was a real helicopter. There are great stunts done in that show that would probably be considered far too dangerous to attempt and therefore, it would be a giant CG circle jerk and just wouldn't feel as grounded as the original.
 
Armenius said:
They did the same thing to John Carpenter's The Thing in 2011.
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Yep I've got that one on BD. Not great but o.k. at its best. I was so disappointed as J.C's is one of my all-time favorite movies. I do however, strongly recommend to all who loved it to play the game that came out in the PS2 era. Totally awesome for its time and a great follow up. J.C. even chimed in back then to endorse it.
 
Grimlakin said:
Wait there was a fantasy island reboot movie? I had no idea.
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It went straight to digital. Michael Pena as Mr Rourke (????) and the asian guy from Silicon Valley are the only things I remember about it.
 
Burticus said:
It went straight to digital. Michael Pena as Mr Rourke (????) and the asian guy from Silicon Valley are the only things I remember about it.
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A few weeks back while browsing VUDU I saw they've even added an unrated cut. You know, just in case the first cut wasn't enough.

edit: Speaking of things no one remembers, there's probably more than a few on this list that some exec is already working reviving somewhere:
https://living.alot.com/entertainment/30-worst-tv-shows-of-the-1980s--15488
 
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Burticus said:
It went straight to digital. Michael Pena as Mr Rourke (????) and the asian guy from Silicon Valley are the only things I remember about it.
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It was out in theaters. It came out on Valentine's Day. All the theaters within a 20 mile radius of me were showing it, so it definitely had a wide release. Box Office Mojo shows it was shown on 2,784 screens.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1611040257/
 
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