We're leaning into nearly twenty years since James Wan’s breakout horror flick, Saw. Since the success of that film, he’s gone on to create an empire within the genre, which includes the Insidious movies and Conjuring universe. The filmmaker reached new depths in 2018 with the release of mega-blockbuster Aquaman, and he’s now involving himself in a slew of other producing projects. His latest is an adaptation of cult ‘80s television series that informed David Hasselhoff’s icon status, Knight Rider.
James Wan’s production company Atomic Monster is teaming up with Spyglass in the latest effort to reboot Knight Rider, which initially aired on NBC from 1982 to 1986. The television show centers on crime-fighting driver Michael Knight and his high-tech car, KITT. The movie is being penned by Ratchet & Clank video game writer TJ Fixman. Upon the announcement, screenplay writer said this on Twitter:
Knight Rider was one of my favorite shows as a kid, so this feels like I just stepped through a time portal and high-fived my 8-year-old self. Hey David Hasselhoff can we be friends now?!
No response yet on Hasselhoff’s end just yet but, if the writer has loved the television show since childhood it must be in good hands, right? Knight Rider has a loyal fanbase so organized that a convention called KnightCon exists. The show was unsuccessfully rebooted back in 2008 (among other attempts), and hums of film versions have been in the news for a number of years. Back in 2017, John Cena was attached to play Michael Knight alongside Kevin Hart in a buddy cop comedy version of Knight Rider, but it never shifted into drive.
David Hasselhoff has been discussing his interest in returning to his Knight Rider role for years, suggesting a Logan-type treatment for the character. At this point, specific details about the vision for the film are scarce other than it being set in the present day and maintaining “the anti-establishment tone of the original," per Deadline.
Other than this, James Wan is developing the Aquaman sequel for Warner Bros ahead of its 2022 release date and working on a new horror project called Malignant. Wan is also producing an untitled film that will fit into Universal’s growing trend of revitalizing its movie monster properties. In addition, Wan is a producer on next year’s Saw spinoff, Spiral, and the new Mortal Kombat movie.
Mortal Kombat is expected to hit theaters on January 15, 2021, Spiral comes out on May 21, 2021 and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022. You can check out all the movies coming your way in the near future with CinemaBlend’s 2020 movie release schedule, and stay tuned here for more updates on James Wan’s projects including the Knight Rider movie.
