Fox Remaking ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ as Two-Hour TV Special
'High School Musical's' Kenneth Ortega will direct the new adaptation.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the latest musical getting the small-screen treatment.
Fox is developing a two-hour remake of the 1975 cult classic to be directed, executive-produced and choreographed by Kenneth Ortega (High School Musical). The project, tentatively titled The Rocky Horror Picture Show Event, is casting-contingent.
The special will be filmed in advance and not air live, but few details beyond that are known. In addition to Ortega, Gail Berman and Lou Adler, who produced the original film, are also attached as executive producers. The special will be produced by Fox 21 Television Studios, and Berman’s The Jackal Group.
The special is timed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film, which has grossed more than $112 million and still plays in theaters across the country.
This isn’t the first stab at adapting The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In 2002, Fox unveiled plans for an adaptation timed to the 30th anniversary that never came to fruition.
Fox’s Glee covered several of the show’s most popular songs for a Season 2 episode and even released a special The Rocky Horror Glee Show EP.
There is no plan yet for when the adaptation will air. Fox also has a live musical production of Grease, starring Julianne Hough and Vanessa Hudgens, scheduled to air on Jan. 31, 2016.
Following in the footsteps of The Sound of Music and Peter Pan, NBC recently announced plans to air a live version of The Wiz later this year.
Ortega’s credits include Gilmore Girls, This Is It and Hocus Pocus. He is repped by Paradigm and Hanson, Jacobson.
