2020 has certainly been the year of television and film reboots – delivering across all genre's from news of a Wednesday Addams TV show heralded by Tim Burton, to Coyote Ugly and of course, an I Know What You Did Last Summer remake. It comes as no surprise then that another iconic film has been added to the list, with reports that a Flashdance reboot is in the early stages of production.
The 1983 film that shot actress Jennifer Beals to fame became a pop culture phenomena, delivering one of the most successful and memorable movie songs of all time – Flashdance... What A Feeling – that continues to appear on workout playlists to this day. According to The Hollywood Reporter, streaming platform CBS All Access (soon to be rebranded as Paramount+) will air the television reboot, with the film's original producer, Lynda Obst, returning to oversee the project.
Written by Good Girls Revolt's Tracy McMillan and directed by Angela Robinson, the new take on the classic film will follow a “young Black woman with ballet dreams and a strip club reality who struggles to find her place in the world while navigating romance, money, art, friendship and how to love herself.”
Watch the trailer for the 1983 film below.
The original 1983 film was initially met with harsh criticism from movie critics, but this didn't halter Flashdance's success with audiences; grossing more than $200 million USD globally at the box office and ranking as the third-highest earning movie in the United States that year. Following one of the most deeply-felt recessions in American history, Alex Owen's (Jennifer Beales) dream of leaving behind her job as a steel mill worker to pursue her passion for dance resonated significantly with the American audience, as they searched for an outlet of escapism.
Adapting Flashdance's plot into a modern setting is sure to garner the same success; highlighting some of the most highly debated issues of 2020 – race, classism and gender. There's no question that we'll be adding this reboot to our watchlist.
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