Cruel Intentions, MacGyver rebooted in US

US broadcasters NBC and CBS have given separate pilot orders to classic American scripted properties.

NBC will rework 1999 cult movie Cruel Intentions, telling the story of the son of Ryan Phillippe’s character in the film, while CBS has ordered a pilot for a new version of 1980s procedural MacGyver.

Cruel Intentions has original writer-director Roger Kumble, original producer Neal H. Moritz, Lindsey Rosin and Jordan Ross attached, with the latter two being behind The Unauthorized Musical Parody of Cruel Intentions.

The pilot is set 15 years after the movie, which followed the twisted sex lives of young, wealthy New Yorkers, and follows a boy whose life is changed after he finds his late father’s journal, as his aunt vies for control of the family business.

Kimble wrote the script with Rosin and Ross. All three executive produce along with Moritz and Pavun Shetty from Original Film, through their overall deal with Sony Pictures Television.

This marks the latest movie to be turned into a broadcast TV pilot this season, coming after CBS’s Training Day and The CW’s Frequency.

SPT, whose sister firm Columbia Pictures coproduced the movie with Original, is attached to produce the pilot along with Original and AMBI.

CBS’s reversioned MacGyver, meanwhile, comes 31 years after the original ABC crime drama about an ingenious agent.

Director James Wan (Saw), original executive producer Henry Winkler and writer Paul Downs Colaizzo are behind the project. It will follow a younger MacGyver and show how to developed skill set to stop disasters using everyday objects.

Scott Gemmill (NCIS: LA) is attached as writer. He executive produces with Wan, Colaizzo, Winkler and Michael Clear. CBS Television Studios is backing the project.

Ahead of the new season, pilot orders are coming thick and fast, with CBS also ordering Bull, which is based on the early career of daytime talkshow host Dr. Phil as one example.

NBC has turned to Adam Barr and Peter Chernin for comedy Me & Mean Margaret, comedian Vladimir Caamaño and producer Adam Sztykiel for an untitled comedy effort; Greg Garcia (My Name is Earl) and Sebastian Maniscalco on Sebastian; and Universal TV and David Janollari on comedy-game show hybrid Crunch Time.