“Fast & Furious” helmer Justin Lin and producer Neal Moritz are signing on to Summit’s reboot of “Highlander.”

Lin and Moritz will direct and produce the pic, respectively. The Summit project, first announced in the spring of 2008, offers a new take on the story of immortals who battle for supremacy while living seemingly normal lives in the contemporary world.

Fox released the original “Highlander” in 1986, with the Sean Connery starrer earning just $6 million at the boxoffice but becoming a cult sensation and a hit on DVD. A television series eventually materialized as well, with French giant Gaumont selling it into syndication in the U.S. in the early 1990s.

“Iron Man” scribes Art Marcum and Matt Hollaway were previously tapped to pen the screenplay for the Summit reboot, while Peter Davis will also produce.

Summit aims to turn the movie into an action tentpole. Studio co-chair Patrick Wachsberger, who has been shepherding the project, noted that Lin and Moritz “have proven more than once that they can deliver an entertaining and exciting blockbuster.”

Summit co-chairman Partrict Waschsberger says:

We are privileged to have this amazing opportunity to reinvent one of the great franchises. Neal and Justin have proven more than once that they can deliver an entertaining and exciting blockbuster.

[RANT]

I love how studios have opted for the terms “Re-Imagining” or “Reboot” as an attempt to aviod the stigma of calling it a remake (they think we’re that stupid). Highlander is a cult classic, even the sequels don’t have the popularity of the original because there really “can be only one”.

That being said, I am glad that Marcum and Hollaway are supposedly writing the script, because it means that it may not totally suck. So I’ll reserve judgment until I see it.  What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

[Source] THR