We could do a “de plane” joke here, but we won’t. Suffice to say, Fantasy Island is on its way back as a movie.
Fantasy Island was a staple of television viewing on ABC from 1977 to 1984. Aside from a short-lived revival in 1998 on ABC, the series has not had much attention in some time. The series has sporadic streaming coverage, and only the first three seasons have seen DVD releases. In short, you pretty much had to be alive at the time of the original series to be into it.
Now it appears people are waking up to this being a fun concept and well worth a revisit.
According to Deadline, Blumhouse and Sony Pictures are teaming up for a new film adaptation of the series. Jeff Wadlow – who just directed Truth or Dare for Blumhouse – has been tapped to write and direct the feature.
Blumhouse is known for low-budget films, but it’s a formula that is working for the studio. The aforementioned Truth or Dare was produced on a $3.5M budget and went on to gross $92.95M globally.
As for the property itself, many remember it as being cheesy with Tattoo opening each episode calling out “de plane, de plane,” but on a recent rewatch of season one I found a far darker series than I remember. In particular, the original TV movie that launched the series which dealt with a man coming to terms with a murder he committed in World War II and another story about a man who wants to be hunted like the big game he is famous for hunting.
It was not a cuddly show at times to be sure.
With Blumhouse attached to the production, a film house known for horror, expect this to take a darker turn.
No release date is known at this time, but the bigger question, really is who will play the infamous Mr. Roarke. Ricardo Montalbán became synonymous with the role, and it will be difficult to replace him.
