The future has a bad attitude and this time it’s in the form of a TV series. If you were one of the many who cheered when the ‘Muscles from Brussels’ Jean-Claude Van Damme went head to head with Dolph Lungren, then you are in a treat! In a press released by Fremantle Media today, it was announced that they are have acquired the rights to the ‘Universal Soldier’ franchise and will be rebooting it as a TV series.
The original 1992 movie had van Damme and Lungren as two deceased soldiers who were reanimated into the perfect soldier as part of a secret Army and integrated into an elite counter terrorism unit called the Universal Soldiers. The soldiers were attached with high tech computer equipment bonded to their head and memories or their previous lives were erased. When Deveaux (van Damme’s character) begins to regain his memories, the two go against each other in what turns out to be an all-out intensely brutal fight sequence.
The series will be written by Damian Kindler who also wrote for ‘Stargate: Atlantis’, ‘Stargate: SG1’, and ‘Sanctuary’ and will be produced by FremantleMedia North America. The producers of the original ‘Universal Soldiers’, Allen Shapiro and Craig Baumgarten, will serve as executive producers. “We’ve long wanted to come up with a bold new way of updating Universal Soldier”, they said, “We’re thrilled to team up with FremantleMedia and are sure that the millions of fans who loved the movie will now welcome it into their living rooms.” The project will be pitched to international buyers for production.
‘Universal Soldier’ has grossed over $36million since its original release and has spawned several sequels: ‘Universal Soldier II: Brothers In Arms’, ‘Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business’, ‘Universal Soldier: The Return’, ‘Universal Soldier: Regeneration’ (which was released last year) and the upcoming 3D movie ‘Universal Soldier: A New Dimension’ set to be released in 2012. No word of who will star in the series or if it will closely follow the original movie. With the present political climate, the idea of an elite counter terrorism unit formed from deceased soldiers does have some relevance in these times. Who would you like to see starring in Universal Soldier?
