Plans for a big screen version of Bally Midway's 1983 coin-op classic Spy Hunter have been percolating for years, but now Vulture reports some actual movement with none other than Ruben Fleischer stepping in to direct and executive produce. You may know Fleischer from his work on Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less; next up for the filmmaker is the old-timey cops-versus-mob flick, Gangster Squad.
Spy Hunter has a lengthy history in Hollywood. It was once in the hands of John Woo with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to star. It later moved along to Resident Evil series director Paul WS Anderson before fizzling out when the filmmaker took on Death Race 2000 instead. There were reports in 2010 of a script from Chad St. John as well, though it sounds like Fleischer is looking to bring in new screenwriters. Whether that's to re-work the existing script or start fresh with a new one is unclear.
The long road to Spy Hunter's big screen adaptation has seen so many ups and downs that it's hard to comment at this point. I think we can all agree that a high-speed blockbuster that makes generous use of the Peter Gunn theme could be a great thing, but I won't believe this thing is happening until there are actual actors in front of cameras.
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