The Kidd here...
In the usual case of a video game not working as a film adaptation, things didn't end very well for HITMAN. Timothy Olyphant's run as Agent 47 may have managed to pull in a shade under $40 million at the box office here in the U.S. with a $100 million gross worldwide, but talk to fans of the actual game, and they hate Xavier Gens' film... which is in line with just about everybody else who made the unfortunate decision to watch it. It's been six years now since the last film, long enough to assume the property had been whacked.. but here comes Fox International Productions to the rescue, breathing some fresh life into the potential franchise, as Deadline reports that a reboot entitled AGENT 47 is in the works (the character's name distances the film a bit from the damage the HITMAN brand took with that first film) with Paul Walker landing the job of revival as the new lead.
It's easy to hate on the Walker choice, as the only thing he really has to his name is the FAST/FURIOUS series... but, especially if you enjoyed FAST FIVE, you can't hate on the guy for that. It'd be unfair to say that those films have succeeded in spite of him, because he's become a part of the fabric of what makes those films work for the audiences that dig them. And did you not just get excited about the trailer for FAST & FURIOUS 6...? I rest my case.
Walker is set to go full chrome dome once he finishes all the press needed for FAST & FURIOUS 6, armed with a script written by Skip Woods, who penned the first HITMAN (not exactly a good sign) and also A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD, and Michael Finch. Aleksander Bach is set to make the leap from commercials to feature films with this being his directorial debut on this level.
No release date has been predetermined yet, but, with AGENT 47 heading into production around June, a 2014 release seems fairly concrete.
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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