Friday Night Lightsis coming back to the big screen and the new adaptation has found its director.David Gordon Green, known for his work on movies likePineapple Expressand the newHalloweenmovie, has been tapped by Universal to helm the reboot. A new report states that his deal isn’t locked down yet, but he is in final negotiations with the studio to re-adapt Buzz Bissinger’s book of the same name.
This new movie will not be a sequel to the 2004 movie, which starred Billy Bob Thornton in the lead role and was directed by Peter Berg. It also won’t have anything to do with theFriday Night LightsTV series, which starred Kyle Chandler, who won an Emmy for his work, and ran for five seasons on NBC. Universal has considered other iterations of a newFriday Night Lightsmovie over the years, either as a sequel to Thornton’s movie orfocusing on Chandler’s character from the series. Ultimately, neither of those are what David Gordon Green is going to be working on.
David Gordon Green’s movie is being billed as a reimagining and will focus on an entirely new cast of characters in a new setting. However, it will still focus on ahigh school football teamin Texas and the impact that has on the community. TheFriday Night Lightsbook centers on the town of Odessa, Texas, which is socially and racially divided. Despite the differences and drama in the town, every Friday night from September to December, when the Permian High School Panthersplay football, the West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can come true. Currently, there is no word on which town this story will focus on or what specifically will differentiate it from the other adaptations that have preceded it.
The script for thisFriday Night Lightsreboot was written by Robert Schenkkan, whopenned the screenplay for Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, as well as the Tony Award-winning playAll The Way. David Gordon Green most recently directed the newHalloween, which is being produced by Blumhouse and will be distributed by Universal this October. Though he was previously associated with comedy, he had dipped his toes into more serious material with Jake Gyllenhaal’sStronger, which didn’t do big business at the box office but was well received.
Peter Berg’sFriday Night Lightswas released in 2004 and made a relatively modest $61 million worldwide. The series, which was produced by Berg, debuted in 2006 and ran for a total of 76 episodes, concluding in 2011. However, in part thanks to the series, the movie has garnered attention in the years since and, thanks to the fans of the show, a reboot could potentially do quite well. As of right now, there is no word on a release date for the newFriday Night Lights, but we will be sure to keep you up to date as more details are made available. This news comes to us courtesy ofVariety.
