It’s being reported that Peter Iliff has been brought in to pen a brand new feature film in which the world famous American Gladiators become superheroes. The movie is said to be based on the TV show we’re all familiar with that began in 1988 and recently came back for a short two-season run. No word on if Gladiators like Nitro, Malibu, Zap, Lace, or some of the newer ones like Crush, Wolf, or Titan will actually star in the film, or if they will cast new faces. It will be produced by Scott Mednick.

Iliff isn’t exactly a household name, but the man has brought us some decent titles over the years. He first wrote the popular action movie Point Break (and a possible future sequel called Point Break Indo), which starred a young Keanu Reeves and the late Patrick Swayze. He then went on to write Harrison Ford’s Patriot Games, the high school football flick Varsity Blues, and Under Suspicion with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. Mednick also has an impressive resume of producing jobs that includes Superman Returns, Beerfest, 300, We Are Marshall, and Where the Wild Things Are.

At first reading, this does indeed sound like the worst idea ever cooked up. You can’t help but imagine the TV American Gladiators running around in their spandex, growling at random folks, and fighting jaywalkers or something. It would be the next Captain Planet, without doubt. One has to assume that this isn’t the case and that the film makers have a sly plan in order to make this work out, but we won’t know for sure until they tell us. Their plan is to have to movie ready for 2011.

What do you guys think; how do they possibly make this movie an appealing film?

[Source: Variety]