Virtually any property that holds even the slightest sinew of name recognition is always in danger of being rebooted, no matter how badly things have gone in the past. For once, we’re not talking about the consistent failure of the G.I. Joe franchise, but something arguably much worse in video game adaptation Hitman.
The first attempt at bringing the bald-headed killer to the big screen did manage to turn a profit after netting upwards of $100 million at the box office, but it was awful. In fact, it was so bad that star Timothy Olyphant came right out and called the film “a piece of shit” when admitting he only took the role because Deadwood had been canned and he’d just bought a house.
That being said, the Justified alum’s stint under the spotlight looked like a masterpiece compared to the Rupert Friend-led reboot Agent 47. The opening chapter may have only scored a 16 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that was still twice as high as its successor managed to fly.
Rebooting a bad film and making it worse is bonkers, but there are inexplicably still people out there who want to see another feature-length Hitman. Mercifully, though, Redditors aren’t exactly finding themselves foaming at the mouth over the prospect, but we can at least breathe a sigh of relief knowing the planned episodic adaptation has fallen by the wayside.
Everyone knows what the definition of insanity is, so that means we can’t rule out a third Hitman with any certainty, which is a chilling prospect.