2008’s Jumper is pretty much a forgotten film at this point: a high concept thriller intended to start a franchise with star Hayden Christensen as a man who can ‘jump’ to anywhere in the world. The premise was intriguing enough, but the film was forgettable, and any potential franchise was lost to the ether.
Nine years on, with absolutely no one clamouring for it, a TV series based on the film is in the works. Jamie Bell, who played a supporting role in the original film, is developing a TV reboot of the film that he would star in.
Julian Simpson (Doctor Who) is also helping develop the show for New Regency and Lionsgate, with Bell in theory reprising his role as fellow ‘jumper’ Griffin O’Connor. It continues the recent trend of films being adapted into TV series. And not just classic films; any film will do, it seems.
The potential series might have some competition though, as there’s a new YouTube Red series titled Impulse coming from director Doug Liman (Edge Of Tomorrow), which will be based on the third novel in Steven Gould‘s Jumper series.
Why is there suddenly a heavy interest in the Jumper series? Who knows. But with streaming services, networks, websites and more battling for viewers and cash, more and more content is going to get mined in the hope of it becoming the next big series, or at least something to attract some more subscribers.
Thus it’s perhaps no surprise that we’re getting adaptations of forgettable films or reboots of old TV series as producers simply begin to produce content, any consumable content, at all costs. It might not be too long until we’re scraping the barrel.
#Peace.Love.Jumper
