Since as early as 2014, Mark Wahlberg has been attached to lead The Six Billion Dollar Man, an updated feature-length take on the classic television series The Six Million Dollar Man which ran on ABC from 1973 to 1978. For one reason or another, though, the project has routinely failed to get off the ground. Things seemed especially dire when Warner Bros. pulled the film from its release schedule altogether in 2018, leaving the film’s fate especially uncertain. Wahlberg has done his best to explain the delays and reassure that the film is still coming eventually, though, even if it’s taking ages to sort everything out. During a new interview with Collider‘s Steve Weintraub, however, he was especially optimistic about the possibility that he’ll eventually get to play Colonel Steve Austin.
Wahlberg is currently out promoting his new action comedy film The Family Plan in which he plays an elite government assassin who takes his family on a surprise vacation to Vegas to avoid the enemies from his past who have tracked him down. In the interview, he expressed why the film, which is co-produced by Skydance, is somewhat related to the fate of The Six Billion Dollar Man considering the media company is planning to acquire the rights. More than anything though, he promised that he wasn’t close to giving up on the much-delayed film despite the long road to getting it made:
“You know what, I think there is finally hope for that to happen. And I think it’s kind of actually a lot to do with this movie, because hopefully Skydance will have the rights, if not fully buttoned up now, very soon, and we’ll fast track that movie to get made. So, I’m still not out of the fight, I’m still grinding every day to get it made. You know, its tough to get certain things made it’s very difficult, it was an uphill battle, but I think certain ones are worth just seeing through to the end.”
‘The Six Billion Dollar Man’ Has an Action Mastermind at the Helm
The Six Million Dollar Man was very action-focused, following the exploits of Steve Austin (Lee Majors) after he was “rebuilt” with costly bionic implants and sent on dangerous missions as a super soldier for the Office of Scientific Intelligence. Wahlberg‘s Six Billion Dollar Man will be his answer to superhero films, and he’ll have the perfect director to bring the action to life. Following Battleship director Peter Berg and Bumblebee director Travis Knight, the latest creator to take the reins will be Skydance Media CEO David Ellison. Known for producing the megahit Top Gun: Maverick, Ellison also produced The Family Plan and has been involved in a host of other action flicks, including Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, The Tomorrow War, and Star Trek: Into Darkness.
The key issue, at the moment, is the rights. Writing is still a heavy focus as Wahlberg and company attempt to make The Six Billion Dollar Man as good as it can be, but things could start moving fast with a new script once all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed with the rights and Wahlberg is feeling pumped. When asked if rights were the hold-up and what other roadblocks the adaptation has faced, he said:
“I mean, well it is now. We had the rights, and we were trying to get the script right at Warners and then, you know, people have the TV rights, you have the estate, and then you have, I think Universal had the international, and lots of things so now to kind of bring it out free and clear, to be able to kind of work out all those different issues and then be able to start fresh with a new writer at Skydance. But I’m excited because nobody does action better than David and everybody, and Dana (Goldberg) and those guys at Skydance, so I couldn’t be more excited about the possibility.”
The Family Plan releases on Apple TV+ on December 15. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the future of The Six Million Dollar Man as Wahlberg and company continue fighting to get the film made. In the meantime, read our guide here to learn more about the star’s upcoming family action comedy.
via Collider