(How nice am I for using former gladiator Gina Carano for the banner pic instead of Titan? That guy is gayer than Liberace cornholing a Care Bear.)
American Gladiators was only ever successful in the highly competitive, Saturday-afternoon-between-football-games time slot. NBC tried to run it at prime time in 2008 and it got canceled after 21 episodes. But there’s still an American Gladiators movie in the works, because hey, people have heard of it, right? There’s no surer sign of creative bankruptcy than reviving an idea that wasn’t that good 20 years ago.
Patriot Games/Varsity Blues scribe Peter Iliff will write a screenplay based on an idea by former Legendary Pictures chief marketing officer Scott Mednickis who is producing the feature. Iliff is probably best known for writing Point Break, and recently wrote the upcoming sequel Point Break Indo.
The film will be set inside the world created in the tv show and will present “a compelling story that launches a whole new set of characters” with the “Herculean characters as superheroes.” [/Film]
Did anyone honestly ever watch some roided-out freak with shaved pits knock a guy into a pool with a giant Q-tip and think, “Oh my gosh, they’ve created a whole new world!” Because that’s what I like to call “Friday.”
Penis… So confused…
The TV-to-film adaptation we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. No, not Arrested Development, dumbass, American Gladiators. I mean, no one in their right mind could watch that show and not think “Hey, this should be a movie!”
The film will be based on the TV show that first aired in 1988 and has been on the air every year except one during the past 20 years. Most recently, NBC aired a primetime installment in 2008. The show has aired in more than 90 countries, with the format adapted for the local market in 14 of them [in the Mexican version they shoot tacos instead of tennis balls -Ed.].
Former Legendary Pictures chief marketing officer Scott Mednick is producing “American Gladiators.” The goal is to create an action story that takes place inside the world Ferraro has created. “I look forward to creating a compelling story that launches a whole new set of characters,” Mednick said. [Variety]
Sources close to the project are describing it as “Like Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, except super gay and with giant Q-Tips.”
