Cronenberg classic Scanners to be turned into TV series

Cronenberg classic Scanners to be turned into TV series

1 comment 📅30 September 2017, 17:34

In an exclusive report from entertainment trade mag Deadline, it appears Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res and Bron Studios have acquired the rights to David Cronenberg’s classic 1981 sci-fi thriller Scanners to develop as a TV series. Ellenberg and Bron landed the rights in a bidding war, with multiple film and television studios, including Lionsgate, Paramount and Skydance, also vying for the title.

If you remember, Scanners depicts an alternate-world scenario in which the concept of psychic warfare is more than just a comicbook curiosity. In this near-future, groups of people have emerged with psychic powers – called scanners – who possess the power of telepathy, mind control and telekinesis. The story centers on a war between private security firms over scanner dominance, pitting ConSec’s recruited novice Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) against a clandestine group hellbent on world domination, led by Darryl Revok (played with relish by Michael Ironside).

Ellenberg will serve as executive producer alongside Aaron L. Gilbert and Danielle Reardon, together with Clark Peterson (Monster) and Pierre David, who was an executive producer on the original film. Also serving as executive producers are Rene Malo (Decline of the American Empire) and Fanny-Laure Malo, who represent the rights holder on the property, Canada’s Laurem Productions.

You might not have seen the original, but chances are you have seen the well-known clip, or a meme made from it, in which the powerful Revok makes a hilarious unfortunate example of this bespectacled ‘normal’ to gathered guests at a conference. Yes indeed, come for the free coffee, stay for the shower of brain matter.

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Scanners didn’t exactly blow the minds of cinema goers in 1981, earning just $14 million at the box office. However, since then it has firmly established itself as a cult classic and even lead to two straight-to-video sequels in Scanners II: The New Order (1991) and Scanners III: The Takeover (1992), along with two even more obscure spinoffs Scanner Cop (1994) and Scanners: The Showdown (1995).

This isn’t the first attempt at a Scanners reboot; for about a decade, the rights were held by The Weinstein Co.’s Dimension Films which tried developing the title as a movie in 2007 and then a TV series in 2011, with Rene Malo, Peterson and David attached as producers to both incarnations, none of which came to fruition.

1 Comment

  1. Psychic NYC
    02 October 2017, 15:54 Psychic NYC

    Man I watched this movie as a kid and loved it, Since there seems to be so many people intrested in buying title maybe we actually get see this in a series. I for one am waiting to see it and going to support it.

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