Fox already has Minority Report slotted for the fall, but the network is far from done mining respected films for TV continuations. Today brings news that Fox is partnering with Paramount TV to remake 1980 flick Urban Cowboy, which starred John Travolta and Debra Winger.
Craig Brewer (Footloose, Hustle & Flow) will write, direct and exec-produce the new take, which is a modern reimagining of the romance between Sissy and Bud, two star-crossed lovers challenged by the difficulties of life in the oil refinery business, on the rodeo circuit and under the brutal Texas sun. Music will again play a key role in the series.
Fox has agreed for Brewer to write a script. If the network likes what it sees, it can begin casting for a pilot with hopes to get Urban Cowboy onto the air either midseason or in the fall of 2016.
Robert Evans, who produced the original movie, is attached to exec-produce the new take, which should give fans of the original hope that this new take will deliver the same soapy drama that the feature film possessed in spades.
The success of Empire has caused Fox to start looking at more melodramatic family drama, and Urban Cowboy could potentially serve as a companion piece for that tremendously popular series. It already has a built-in audience due to the original’s warm reception, and remakes seem to be in vogue lately. Whether audiences will still respond to a grimy, Texas-set romantic drama remains to be seen, but Brewer found some degree of success in resurrecting another classic song-and-dance pic, so there’s definitely potential here.