Franchise films are now the rage in Bollywood with several films like Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Housefull, Hera Pheri, Golmaal, Singham, Murder, Raaz, Student of the Year, Heropanti etc following the sequel route. Aditya Chopra’s YRF has embarked on creating a spy universe with Tiger, Pathaan and War while Rohit Shetty has his own cop universe. Now, as per recent reports, Jason Statam’s French action-thriller The Transporter (2002) is all set to get a Hindi remake with none-other-than Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff and Ranveer Singh being considered for the lead role.
Producer Vishal Rana, who last co-produced Tappsee Pannu’s Blurr, has brought the official rights of The Transporter and is keen to make the film with Hrithik, Ranveer or Tiger as the main lead under his production house, Echelon Productions. He told an online portal, “We are in the process of developing a lot of scripts which are different. We are hearing a lot of stories currently from new writers. I love action, big-scale action films. So I'm making The Transporter remake. We have got The Transporter official remake rights. We plan to begin work on it next year.”
Talking about franchises becoming the new trend, he Vishal said, “There's a reason behind producers now investing in the franchise, which has been quite a dominant factor in the West. The idea is to invest so much in your first film. For example, if it was a big action, a big VFX-driven film, you have assets which obviously cost a lot in the first film. You might hardly breakeven but the character has to have a recall value so that, the next film, you start making money as a producer. I think people love characters and they will flock to theatres to watch their favourite characters. Singham, for example!”
The Transporter is the first film in the franchise succeeded by three sequels and a television series. The film stars Jason Statham, Qi Shun, Matt Schulze, François Berléand and Ric Young. It was produced by Luc Besson and directed by Corey Yuen. The film follows Jason Statham as Frank Martin, a driver for hire—a mercenary ‘transporter’ who will deliver anything, anywhere, no questions asked—for the right price.
(Source: India Today)
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