Chad Stahelski’s upcoming action remake of Highlander, starring Henry Cavill, is coming with a cost of $180m to make.
When news emerged that Lionsgate had dropped Chad Stahelski’s upcoming remake of Highlander, eyebrows did point upwards, not least because the cash-strapped studio is in real need of successful new franchises. Plus, who knows how a move allowing producer Chad Stahelski take a project to another studio will eventually shake out? Stahelski has been a valuable creative force for Lionsgate, overseeing the continued expansion of its growing John Wick universe of projects and by all accounts, stepping in directly to try and change the fortunes of the upcoming From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina.
According to The Wrap, it’s a lack of confidence in Stahelski’s ability to turn the new Highlander into a box office success that was concerning Lionsgate, and led to the studio ultimately passing on the project after spending years and years developing it.
After all, despite the inherent blockbuster idea of the premise – hidden immortals duelling with swords throughout history to determine one winner – the original 1986 film has always been regarded as more of a cult movie than an outright classic. As an (ugh) ‘brand’, it doesn’t really possess the power to get lots of different types of people into a cinema.
Of course, all of this wouldn’t have been a problem if the studio had a star in place to effectively ‘open’ the film, but reportedly, Lionsgate also cast doubt on Stahelski’s choice of casting too. Despite being a former Superman, the report states that studio was concerned by the box office performances of Henry Cavill’s past few films, not least Argylle, Matthew Vaughn’s costly miss for Apple.
The report claims that ultimately, the two parties were only $15m apart in their respective requirements to get the film made, but that proved to be fifteen million reasons not to push the greenlight button for Lionsgate.
With reporting now making this public, perhaps the most interesting narrative to follow Highlander is how well it fares commercially and whether the studio – or Stahelski – will be proved right.
“There can be only one,” went the tagline of the original film and that might prove to be a truism when it comes to determining the eventual winners and losers of this deal. With Amazon picking up the film, we’ll eventually find out but it will be a while yet before Highlander finds its way into a cinema. We’ll bring you more on the project as we hear it.
