Even though he backed up his self-appointed status as Franchise Viagra by driving the Journey, G.I. Joe, and Fast & Furious sequels to new heights at the box office, not even the power of Dwayne Johnson could save Baywatch from disaster.
That being said, the big screen remake of the classic TV series was nowhere near a box office bomb after earning $178 million at the box office, but a 17 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes ties it with Tooth Fairy as the worst-reviewed entry in The Rock’s entire filmography, so it’s no surprise that the sequel plans announced shortly after the film’s release ended up amounting to nothing.
And yet, because people running in slow motion across a beach remains an indelible peace of pop culture iconography, Baywatch is being remade yet again. According to Deadline, Freemantle has been developing another fresh take on the vapid drama, and is already in talks with a number of interested streaming services and broadcasters.
The show already ran for 11 seasons and 242 episodes in addition to inspiring Johnson’s widely-panned action comedy, but it just goes to show that no IP is ever truly safe from being dusted off and shoved back into the spotlight, regardless of whether or not anybody’s actually interested.
You can already hear the cries of Baywatch going “woke” from overzealous trolls ringing in the distance, but it’s hard to imagine that there’s a massive fandom out there who’ve felt starved of brand new content focusing on the lifeguards and their everyday lives, even if it’s been over 20 years since the gang last graced the small screen.