In what we last heard was such an enormously important project for Universal Pictures has now been pushed aside in favour of other projects. It seems the budding franchise just isn’t as big a deal as they once thought it was.
It looks like the bigscreen version of “Spy Hunter” has taken a backseat because when asked about Spy Hunter and they way he answered the question to me at least, seems that he is not doing it anymore. He might write it but it sure looks like he will not be directing the project.
I’ve also been told from people who are close to the project is that Anderson is NOT doing the film and that he’s been off the project.
I would love to see a revival of the HotCar franchises of old. Its a small genre, but in the 80s the wheels that these iconic adventurers and crimefighters would drive often embodied the entire feel of the show.
Starsky and Hutch’s Turino, Magnum’s Ferrari, the A-Team van, the General Lee, Hardcastle and McCormick, and even Knight Rider topped them all with a car that had its own personality.
But a couple reasons I don’t see Spy Hunter working.
First, the story in the game was always just the neato car with its gadgets. You never saw the driver. Arcade games in the 80s were never that elaborate. You drove and shot at badguys who tried to run you off the road. Occassionally you would get an upgrade and could do things like dropping oil slicks or smoke screens. Other than that you had the guns that shot out the front. Oh, and just for some variety the car would turn into a boat and do all the same things on the water instead. The driver didn’t even have a name. Making a movie out of this means taking a LOT of liberties in writing a story. Because there really wasn’t one. Not the worst thing in the world, but the game was about the car, the movie will be about a super spy with a car.
Secondly, the format treads too closely to other projects already in the workings. James Bond never fell out of popularity and one staple of that franchise is that he is a superspy with lots of fancy gadgets including the anticipated “Bond car” which would inevitably have some tricks up its sleeve. Then there is Knight Rider getting a TV Reboot this fall (which is undergoing rewrites from the pilot aired earlier this year -looks good too). Another story about a crimefighter with a super fancy car. And let’s not forget DeathRace. Another movie based on cars in high speed races using gadgets and jury rigged weapons to take each other out of the fight.
So I am not so upset to not see Spy Hunter just yet. They will have to do something with it, but the more they try, the less it will be Spy Hunter. A 90 minute movie about a car shooting other cars with the big twist being that it can turn into a boat just doesn’t sound interesting to me.
