With the success of Starsky & Hutch, the drooling masses who turned up to ogle Jessica
Simpson's Daisy Dukes-clad ass in The Dukes of
Hazzard, and the imminent arrival of Miami
Vice, it was pretty much inevitable that somebody would eventually decide that Magnum,
P.I. would also be a cash cow. That somebody turned out to be both a wise suit at Universal, who have long held
the rights, and Brian
Grazer, who will be producing the film (through Imagine Entertainment). The screenplay will be written and directed
by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who penned both Dodgeball and the brilliant Terry Tate, Office Linebacker short that was turned into possibly
the best Super Bowl ad of all time.As someone who loved Magnum as a kid and was shocked to discover as an adult that it's often well-acted and surprisingly well-written, I read this news with a bit of trepidation. Since the big screen version of TV shows that have been most successful have been incredibly campy (affectionate, I admit, but still campy), I was worried that the same approach would be taken with this adaptation. Somehow that just seems wrong, not to mention weirdly disrespectful of a pretty complex TV show. But then I got to the good part of the article: according to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will not be a "spoof but rather something akin to the tone of the show, which mixed humor and danger." Excellent. Now I'm officially not completely scared.
1. Right there with you Baby. If they can do it without the idiocy of all of the other TV to Movie projects I will be pleasantly surprised. Don't mess with my Magnum!!
Posted at 12:45PM on Jan 24th 2006 by Tina