BREAKING MOVIE/TV NEWS

Monday, November 17, 2008

Uinted Artists: We Are "The Champions"...

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Writer Christopher "Valkyrie" McQuarrie will script/produce a feature adaptation of the 1968-69 British TV series "The Champions", for United Artists. The project will team McQuarrie with writer/producer Guillermo "Hellboy" del Toro.

The original TV series consisted of 30 episodes broadcast on the UK network ITV during 1968–1969, produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. The series was broadcast in North America on NBC.

Starring actors Stuart Damon as pilot 'Craig Stirling', Alexandra Bastedo as scientist 'Sharron Macready' and William Gaunt as code-breaker 'Richard Barrett', the characters were agents for Geneva-based United Nations law enforcement organization 'Nemesis". Actor Anthony Nicholls played their boss 'Tremayne'.

During their first mission, the team's plane crashes in the Himalayas where they are rescued by an advanced "Lost Horizons"-type civilization living secretly in the mountains, saving their lives and granting them superhuman abilities, including ESP telepathy, precognition, enhanced senses/reasoning and physical abilities up to the extent of human limits.

Many stories featured unusual villains, such as fascist regimes threatening world peace.

Other than "Valkyrie", United Artists have not greenlit any other film projects from their $500 million production fund...