Blumhouse and Sony Pictures are rebooting the cult ’70s and ’80s TV series Fantasy Island, for a movie directed by Truth Or Dare’s Jeff Wadlow, and they are taking it places that have us absolutely intrigued. When news first arrived that a Fantasy Island film was on the way, honestly we just nodded and refilled our mug of coffee and moved on, but clearly that was a mistake, and we are ready to apologise.
Blumhouse, it turns out, are pushing this into what we can only presume is its most meta conclusion, comparing its forthcoming reimagining to Drew Goddard’s The Cabin In The Woods. If there’s any set-up that allows for that many twists and turns, the one from Fantasy Island is up there.
Fantasy Island cast
A Guardians Of The Galaxy reunion may be in the wind, but not at the mouse house, as James Gunn fave Michael Rooker has now signed up! There are no details on his character yet.
Previously, we learned that Dave Bautista, seemingly fed all the way up with Disney, was more than ready to take a fantasy-filled trip. He was in talks to play “a former guest who is still on the island against his will and who wants to expose Roarke and the island’s magical secrets.” There’s been no confirmation since that Bautista actually signed on the dotted line, though, so we’ll have to wait and see.
The ‘Roarke’ in question there is the character played by Ricardo Montalban in the TV version. In Blumhouse’s movie, Michael Pena (Ant-Man‘s Luis) will be the new Roarke.
Furthermore, Silicon Valley star Jimmy Yang is set to play another guest on Roarke’s creepy island called Brax “who travels to the island with his older adoptive brother with the wish of ‘having it all.’ What the mild-mannered Brax doesn’t realise is that when you have it all, there is someone who wants what you have.”
This is a cast of people who are incredibly good at playing comedy and drama in equal spades, which is a skill pretty essential to the horror genre, and while wildly successful production company Blumhouse hasn’t 100% confirmed yet whether its Fantasy Island is a horror movie, we wouldn’t be at all surprised.
More as we get it.
Fantasy Island release date
Fantasy Island doesn’t have a release date yet, but with casting underway this could start filming very soon. Blumhouse is known for notably fast turnarounds, so the film could potentially even see a late 2019 release date, although early 2020 is more likely.
Fantasy Island original series
Fantasy Island ran from 1977 to 1984 with a revival that ran between 1998 and 1999 – sort of like an odd mix of Westworld and The Prisoner. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke, who rented his mysterious island to rich people who could afford $50,000 for a fully immersive fantasies. With small, creepy overtones of the supernatural, the series began as two TV movies before launching a series in 1978. The show guest starred almost every TV actor of the period and went on to be remembered as a brilliant but odd slice of cult nostalgia.