The Hollywood Reporter brings word that a Starship Troopers reboot is in development at Columbia Pictures and writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon have been hired to pen the script. Shannon and Swift are most well known for writing the 2003 hit Freddy vs. Jason and the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th. Their next project will be the big screen reboot of Baywatch due out net summer.
“For the record, we think Verhoeven’s version is amazing and we aren’t trying to redo it,” the pair wrote on Twitter. “Will talk more about it soon, but we’re excited!”
The outlet reports that they will be going back to the original basis for the film, the 1959 novel by Robert A. Heinlein.
Fast & Furious producer Neal H. Moritz will produce the feature alongside Toby Jaffe. The two of them previously produced the remake of another Paul Verhoeven film, Total Recall.
The original Starship Troopers was released in 1997 and starred Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, and Michael Ironside as soldiers fighting an alien race of bugs. Though a critical flop and a mild box office success upon release, the film garnered a cult following through the years and even earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects, losing out to James Cameron’s Titanic. The series went on to have three direct-to-video sequels as well.
A reboot was previously in development with Thor and X-Men: First Class screenwriters Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, though that version never materialized.
