Rumor has it that Knight Rider is the most recent classic television series to be getting a feature film reboot. Yes—yet another relic of the Good Ol’ Days is being stripped of its retro charm in order to throw it on the big screen. And I’ll be honest—no one needs it.
I’m not a massive film buff, but I have to admit that I’ve grown pretty damn tired of the fact that half of our “new releases” are just a rehashing of a movie, book, TV show, or video game that has been part of the cultural lexicon for decades. Did we need another Jumanji? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? The Jungle Book? Beauty and the Beast?
The answer is no. We did not need any of these. It’s just a lazy way to make money by capitalizing on people’s nostalgia. And I will not have it tarnishing the glory of Knight Rider. Especially not after what happened with the 2008 reboot (a Mustang? Come on, folks).
According to Deadline, Spyglass Media Group is teaming up with James Wan and Michael clear of Atomic Monster to develop a feature film. TJ Fixman, writer of the Ratchet & Clank video game series, will be adapting the screenplay. It’s a pretty stacked group, I can’t lie. But I’m still not happy.
I unfortunately did not have the joy of watching the series as it aired, but I can still remember my parents introducing me to KITT and the gang when I was a wee child. They let me spend a solid month believing that all cars could talk and that I just had to be lucky enough to hear them do it. I’d ask to spend my free time in each of our various and sundry cars. I liked our red Mustang with the white stripes best; I was absolutely convinced that it would be the one to speak to me.
There aren’t very many details about this new Knight Rider reboot, aside from the fact that it will take place in the present day and will “maintain the anti-establishment tone” of the original. Uh-huh. We’ll see.
I’m not prone to trusting anyone trying to remake this series, especially after KITT was turned into a freakin’ Mustang. And I absolutely do not trust Hollywood to script a movie that does not rely heavily on CGI. I just don’t. Everyone just leave Knight Rider alone.