Stargate and Sanctuary producer to adapt the movie franhcise for the small screen
David Ellender, Global CEO of FremantleMedia Enterprises, says: “ Universal Soldier is FME’s first foray into the sci-fi action genre, further diversifying our growing drama portfolio and underlining our reputation as one of the industry’s leading developers, co-producers and distributors of globally popular, high-quality scripted content.”
Allen Shapiro and Craig Baumgarten, who will executive produce the series, say: “We’ve long wanted to come up with a bold new way of updating Universal Soldier.* We’re thrilled to team up with FremantleMedia and are sure that the millions of fans who loved the movie will now welcome it into their living rooms.”
Shapiro is Chairman of TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com, which are part of a joint venture of Lionsgate. He was also a Founder and President of Mosaic Media Group, a talent management, production and investment company. He previously served as President / CEO of The IndieProd Company, which produced numerous films and TV shows, including Universal Soldier, Air America , Blue Streak , L.A. Story and Roxanne . Baumgarten is an independent producer, whose films include Hook , Shattered Glass , The Order , Never Back Down and Universal Soldier .
At the moment, Fremantle is looking for international buyers for the series.
(* We think by this they mean cheap, and not starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren… which may not be a bad thing.)
