Once upon a time, there was a TV show about three little girls who went to the police academy and then became private investigators. And then Sony Pictures made a movie, or three, about them.
And now, Sony is reviving that franchise.
The studio is developing a new feature version of Charlie’s Angels, the female-fronted action and crime adventure franchise, hiring Pete Chiarelli, the known for the Ryan Reynolds-Sandra Bullock romantic comedy The Proposal as well as the adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians, to pen the script.
It is unclear who is producing the new version although one source said Drew Barrymore and her Flower Films banner, which was responsible for the first big-screen takes at the turn of the century, are back for this new version.
Sony had no comment.
Charlie’s Angels was a crime drama that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1981. A pop culture sensation, it made stars out of leads Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaquelyn Smith. It also helped establish Aaron Spelling as a big time TV producer. It set up the premise of very able women detectives working for the Townsend Agency, run by an enigmatic and never-seen owner, Charlie Townsend. A very average man named Bosley serves as Townsend’s liaison.
The title was thrust back into the spotlight when Sony’s Columbia brought it to the big screen in 2000, in a version that starred Drew Barrymore, Camerin Diaz, and Lucy Liu and directed by McG. That movie was a massive hit, grossing $264.1 million worldwide (around $493 million today). That was followed by a sequel in 2003, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
A new television series was attempted in 2011, although it was canceled after seven episodes. Sony tried to relaunch the movie franchise in 2019 with a feature directed by Elizabeth Banks and starring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska. That movie, which took the premise global by making Townsend Agency a security and intelligence service that has teams around the world, proved to be a box office bomb.
The new project is in early development.
Chiarelli was a producer who segued to screenwriting, penning Proposal under a pseudonym. The ensuing movie, which became a Disney hit in 2009, launched his writing career. His credits include the 2016 magicians heist thriller Now You See Me 2 as well as Crazy Rich Asians, Warner Bros.’s hit adaptation of the best-selling Kevin Kwan novel. He worked on GOAT, Sony Pictures Animation’s new feature produced by Stephen Curry. That movie opens today.
Chiarelli is repped by UTA, Mosaic, and Yorn Levine.
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