Fans of the ever resourceful secret agent Angus MacGyver are in for a treat because, not only is CBS working on a reboot of the hit 1980s action-adventure series, Lionsgate announced on Feb. 5 that it is working with MacGyver creator Lee David Zlotoff to bring MacGyver to the cinema.
It's no joke because Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jon Feltheimer himself made the announcement and he also revealed that "Fast and the Furious" and "xXx" producer Neal Moritz is on board for the project.
"I'm also pleased to announce this morning that we've joined with our friends at CBS on a development deal to re-envision the MacGyver franchise in film and television, with CBS taking the lead on the TV show and Lionsgate taking the lead on the film," Feltheimer announced.
James Wan, director of "Furious 7," will serve as executive producer and direct the pilot episode of the television series reboot. Wan was previously set as the director for the film version when it was being discussed in 2012 but left the project in favor of "Furious 7."
Feltheimer did not give any further information on the film project but, if Wan's concept would be used, the film could probably showcase a college-age MacGuyver.
"[My] initial concept was [...] he gets blamed for something that he had designed, something really big that's something everyone wanted, and now someone has weaponized it and everyone's coming after him [...] So imagine Enemy of the State, if Will Smith had the brains of MacGyver," Wan disclosed.
Still, Lionsgate has not given any indication that it will ask Wan to take charge of the MacGyver movie so there is a big possibility that the plot will be completely different from what Wan conceptualized.
There is one thing we know for sure: whatever the MacGyver series reboot and film plot will be, its original star, Richard Dean Anderson will not be a part of it.
