United Artists (UA) and producer Scott Stuber have bought the rights to an upcoming relaunch of nineties erotic thriller Basic Instinct, with original writer Joe Eszterhas set to script.
Stuber and Nick Nesbit of Amazon MGM Studios-owned UA will produce the new version, which has yet to be titled, along with Vault Entertainment’s Craig Baumgarten. Adam Griffin will serve as executive producer.
Former Netflix film head Stuber signed a deal with Amazon MGM to relaunch the UA label last year.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven from a script by the high-profile Eszterhas, Basic Instinct grossed nearly $353 million worldwide in 1992, two thirds of the total coming from international markets. Carolco Pictures produced the film and sold international rights, with Sony label TriStar distributing in the US.
The film starred Michael Douglas as a detective investigating a brutal murder and Sharon Stone as a manipulative crime novelist who is the prime suspect.
The project screened in competition at the 1992 Cannes festival and generated huge amounts of publicity because of its explicit content. It was followed by a 2006 sequel, also with Stone, which grossed only $39m worldwide.
Stuber’s other upcoming projects include Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein for Netflix and Deliver Me From Nowhere, with Jeremy Allen White playing Bruce Springsteen, for 20th Century Studios and Disney. Both films are set for release this autumn.
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