Undeterred by the woefully disappointing double act of Robocop and Total Recall, Hollywood is circling back to the Paul Verhoeven archives for a third time to reboot Starship Troopers, with Baywatch screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon on board to spearhead the potential franchise-starter.
News hails from The Hollywood Reporter, confirming that it is Robert A Heinlein’s original novel, and not Verhoeven’s cult classic of ’97, that will be acting as the jumping-off point. Columbia Pictures is the studio behind the redo, and has enlisted Neal H. Moritz to produce.
A patriotic sci-fi movie with a satirical bite – no pun intended – the original Starship Troopers earned rave reviews two decades ago, even if its total box office haul of $121 million failed to justify the $105 million budget. It went on to spawn three sequels in total, none of which came bearing Verhoeven’s name on the masthead; instead, they were direct-to-DVD continuations that stretched and pulled the sci-fi series in weird and wonderful directions. Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards and Neil Patrick Harris were among those who starred in the 1997 original.
When it comes to this new interpretation, THR goes on to stress that Columbia’s reimagining isn’t considered a remake, hence the decision to circle back to Heinlein’s novel. That means no personnel from Verhoeven’s fist-pumping original will be involved, and that the studio will likely engineer a different tone in lieu of the in-your-face satire. So long as this reboot doesn’t result in a feature that’s gritty and completely devoid of humor, and instead uses the opportunity to embrace the wacky sci-fi elements of Heinlein’s novel via modern CGI, you can color us intrigued.
Hollywood’s 90s nostalgia continues apace, and Starship Troopers is the latest project to get the go-ahead. Tell us, what are your thoughts on this new development?