Johnny Mnemonic Is Being Developed As A TV Series
This article is more than 2 years old
Remember Johnny Mnemonic? The forgettable 1995 cyberpunk flick starred Keanu Reeves as a man with a cybernetic brain implant who must deliver an important package before the Yakuza, or the package inside of his brain, kills him. Well, it’s getting another chance at cinematic life, this time as a TV series based on the original short story by William Gibson.
According to GateWorld.net, the Johnny Mnemonic TV series is currently being developed by Seven Arts Entertainment and Prodigy Pictures, the Canadian production studio behind Lost Girl on SyFy and the upcoming Neuromancer movie from director Vincenzo Natali (Splice, Cube), which is also based on a William Gibson novel. A few writers from the Stargate franchise (SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe) are attached to the project, although Seven Arts Entertainment has not disclosed the writers’ names at this point. Seven Arts’ CEO Peter Hoffman says:
We are delighted to expand our relationship with Prodigy Pictures, which has had stellar successes in television and mini-series production. Jay [Firestone, Prodigy Pictures] has been prominent in the area of international television production for over 20 years with a wide array of important relationships. Jay shares our enthusiasm. He has already attached well-known television writers who were part of the successful Stargate series to Johnny Mnemonic.
Johnny Mnemonic was part of that mid ’90s glut of Internet-based/cyberpunk-y flicks including The Net, Hackers, and Virtuosity. It was during a time when Internet use was not fully understood by the mainstream population, but it was trendy enough for Hollywood to jump on the bandwagon. It seems like these movies are all but forgotten in popular culture these days. Maybe more of them will get the TV treatment.
You can watch the Johnny Mnemonic trailer below (don’t laugh too hard at the “80 gigs of data” line).
