Variety reports on new RKO Saint Films in the works

Variety has a report on RKO enlisting a new writer for new 'Saint' which is exciting news. As Ian Dickerson pointed out a while back, "RKO have the rights to remake their films as long as they don't change the dialogue or the length of the pictures. They must be remade as films for the cinema, they do not have any TV rights. So if they remake The Saint Meets the Tiger it'll be 79 min long, Saint in New York 69 mins. Hardly feature film length nowadays."

The long-awaited TV Series is still in the works, and has had multiple false-starts and fresh-starts! The latest fresh-start should be more newsworthy in the very near future. In the meantime, let's read about the RKO remakes!

RKO enlists scribe for new 'Saint'
Travis Wright to pen update of durable franchise
By Dave McNary

RKO Pictures is reviving Simon Templar and "The Saint," signing Travis Wright ("Eagle Eye") to pen a script based on the debonair hero.

The Saint, a sort of modern-day Robin Hood, was created by Leslie Charteris and first appeared in the 1928 book "Enter the Tiger." Known as the Saint because of his initials, Templar's targets included lowlifes and corrupt politicians; he often left a calling card at his "crimes," a stick figure of a man with a halo -- which served as the logo of the Charteris books, movies, and the 1960s TV series starring Roger Moore.

Movies featuring the Saint began in 1938 with "The Saint in New York," then "The Saint Strikes Back" and several others. Ian Ogilvy starred in the 1978-79 series "Return of the Saint" and Val Kilmer starred in Paramount's 1997 version.

RKO, with a legacy dating back to "Citizen Kane" and "King Kong," is expected to distribute drama "A Late Quartet," starrring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, and Christopher Walken. Wright and former partner John Glenn wrote drafts for remakes of "Clash of the Titans" at Warner Bros., "Journey to the Center of the Earth" at Fox and "The Warriors" at Paramount. Wright is repped by Benderspink.

The Tainted Archive has a follow-up on the upcoming tale of two Saints, which they call, Will it be the battle of the Saints? Not Spy vs. Spy, but Saint vs. Saint!

Labels: 2012, RKO, Travis Wright

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