Stripes TV Show Is Happening, Is Nothing Sacred Anymore?

The trend of turning hit movies into TV shows continues, with CBS putting a new series based on the hit 1981 movieStripesinto development. The show hails from Trevor Moore, Sam Brown and Zach Cregger, three of the five creators of the hit IFC seriesThe Whitest Kids U’Know. Ivan Reitman, who directed the original movie, is on board to executive produce and direct the pilot episode, although it remains unclear if any of the stars of theoriginal movie, like Bill Murray, will have any involvement in the series.

Trevor Moore, Sam Brown and Zach Cregger are writing the pilot script, which centers on a rebellious outsider who finds his calling when he joins the U.S. Army, and must lead a ragtag group of Army misfits. The original movie featured a talentedsupporting castincluding John Candy, Harold Ramis, P.J. Soles, Sean Young, John Larroquette, Warren Oates, John Diehl and Judge Reinhold. The original movie took in an impressive $85.2 million at the box office, which may not seem by much by today’s standards, but in 1981, it was the fifth highest-grossing movie of the year, behindArthur($95.4 million),Superman II($108.1 million),On Golden Pond($119.2 million) andRaiders of the Lost Ark($212.2 million). When adjusted for inflation,Stripes' box office haul would equate to $273.9 million today.

Ivan Reitman will executive produce through his Montecito Pictures company, alongside Moore, Brown and Cregger. Julius Goldy Sharpe and Tom Pollock are also set to executive producer, with Amie Karp and Peter Fried producing. Sony Pictures Television will produce in association with CBS Television Studios. No production schedule has been given yet, and it remains to be seen when thispilot episodewill go into production, or if CBS is eyeing a straight-to-series order. Even ifStripesdoesn’t make it through to series, it marks the latest in a growing TV trend of movies being adapted for the small screen.

CBS is certainly no stranger to this movie-to-TV adaptation, with shows such asLimitless,Training DayandRush Hour, although all of those shows proved to be quite short-lived. The network also isn’t afraid to bring any of their classic programs back from the dead, as we reported last week that the network is working on aMagnum P.I. reboot, with a new reboot ofS.W.A.T.currently airing on CBS in its first season. A few years ago, CBS also tried to revive theBeverly Hills Copfranchise with a new TV series that was ordered to pilot, which brought back Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, but the network passed on issuing a series order.

While CBS is putting this show together, several other networks and streaming services are tapping into classic movies for new TV programming. We reported just yesterday that a newGalaxy Quest TV serieswill be a direct sequel to the original 1999 movie, while we also reported in September that theUnderworldmovie series is heading to the small screen. There are also TV shows based on hit movies such asHeathers,Four Weddings and a Funeral,Jumper,Scanners,Tremors,Big Hero 6,Jawbreaker,True Lies,The Blair Witch ProjectandThe Lord of the Ringsin various stages of development.Deadlinebroke the news of thisStripesTV series.