six billion dollar man mark wahlberg

A while back – November 2015, to be precise – production studio The Weinstein Company announced that they were working on a film adaptation of the 1970s TV series ‘The Six Billion Dollar Man.’  With Mark Wahlberg attached to star in the movie and Damin Szifron set to direct, Weinstein staked its claim to a prime-time Winter release date: December 22, 2017.

Now, however, it appears that date will no longer be a reality.  While Wahlberg and Szifron are still attached, the film has not begun any additional casting or shooting as of this writing, per Tracking-Board.com.  Movies rarely can move from pre-production to completion in such a short time frame, meaning that the earliest the film will hit theaters would be sometime in 2018.

The Weinstein company has yet to officially make the move, but they have already slated another of their films, the Benedict Cumberbatch-led ‘The Current War,’ for release on December 22nd.  It’s a busy release date in general, with other films opening on that day this year including ‘Pitch Perfect 3,’ ‘Downsizing,’ ‘Bastards,’ and Steven Speilberg’s ‘The Papers.’

In case you’re unfamiliar with ‘The Six Million Dollar Man,’ here’s the synopsis of the original TV series:

Steve Austin is an astronaut who is seriously injured when his spaceship crashes. Handsome and athletic, Austin undergoes a government-sanctioned surgery, which rebuilds several of Steve’s body parts with machine parts, making him cyborglike. When Steve recovers, his machine parts enable him to have superhuman strength and speed, as well as other powers. With these powers, Steve goes to work for the Office of Scientific Information, battling evil for the good of mankind.

We will keep you posted as more news is released about the upcoming film adaptation.

horizontal lineTony Schaab wonders which a courteous zombie would prefer most: if you gave him a hand, played it by ear, got something off your chest, kept your chin up, stuck your neck out, or just gave him something off the top of your head?  A lover of most things sci-fi and horror, Tony is an author by day and a DJ by night. Come hang out with Tony on Twitter or follow him on Facebook to hear him spew semi-funny nonsense and get your opportunity to finally put him in his place.