Dimension Films has hauled The Six Billion Dollar Man from the fiery pits of development hell – where its languished for close to two years at this point – slapped a new coat of paint on the TV-to-film translation, and pegged it for a release on December 22, 2017.
Despite a troubled start, Mark Wahlberg has remained attached to the project and will still headline the reimagining of the 1970s action series, with today’s report reaffirming that Wild Tales’ Damián Szifron is primed to write and direct, scuppering earlier plans for Wahlberg to reunite with Lone Survivor filmmaker Peter Berg.
In the time that’s lapsed since The Six Billion Dollar Man was hatched as a potential feature film, Variety notes that numerous pitches and concepts have come and gone, with conflicting ideas to either overhaul the property and retain its action sensibilities, or take strides to ape the Jump Street model and experiment with a more comedic tone. At this time, it’s unclear which direction Wahlberg, Dimension Films and Szifron will steer the adaptation – the latter is currently penning a revised version of the script – but the director shared a brief update about his excitement to collaborate with his newfound roster of talent.
“Writing the screenplay was such a fantastic ride and embarking on this journey with Mark, Bob and Stephen to take this story to a whole new level is simply spectacular,” says Szifron. “Growing up, these kind of films left an indelible mark on me and now it feels so good to be making one.”
With a release date to call its own – finally! – The Six Billion Dollar Man will strut in front of the cameras in September of 2016 ahead of that aforementioned launch on December 22, 2017.
