They’ve been talking about making a movie version of 24 for what seems like decades. Fox was supposed to have done it a few years ago, but that plan got scuppered by the writers’ strike, and since then all has gone quiet. However, with 24 now back on the air, speculation on a film has ramped up again.
It seems there are serious plans afoot, as Variety reports that Fox has hired writer Billy Ray (State Of Play, Flightplan) to handle scripting duties on the movie. The studio apparently liked Ray’s pitch, which would bring Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer to Europe, although there are no more details on the exact plot.
However one word of caution. The script is said to have come to Fox via Keifer Sutherland, who’s still apparently keen to turn 24 into a feature film. There’s a possibility that the hiring of Ray is as much to explore options and please Sutherland as anything else, as Fox is keen to point out how any plans for a film are at the preliminary stage. At the moment the TV show hasn’t been reordered for another season after this one, and Fox TV execs are said to be waiting to see the ratings over the next couple of weeks before deciding what to do (so far the show is 10% down on last year).
If they don’t order another one, it certainly clears people’s schedules to make a 24 film, but would also suggest the show has come to the end of its run and make funding a feature version less appealing to Fox. In fact there’s the slight air of the announcement that a screenwriter has been hired is to advertise the return of the TV show and get the ratings up, but we’ll have to wait and see whether a 24 film ever does materialise.