A reboot of the reboot?

Elizabeth Banks in Talks to Direct New 'Charlie's Angels' Movie (Exclusive)


Elizabeth Banks

by Borys Kit
9/15/2015 2:00pm PDT

Sony is rebooting the franchise.

Charlie’s Angels is getting a new shot at the big-screen, this time with Elizabeth Banks involved.

Sony is rebooting the franchise, about three attractive women who work as private detectives, and is in negotiations to hire Banks to direct the new movie.

Banks will also produce with her husband and producing partner Max Handelman. The studio and producers will begin a search for a writer to tackle the reboot.

Angels, a hit television series in the 1970s, centered around three detectives — played by Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith — who worked to solve cases for a mysterious benefactor named Charlie, while also joshing with their sidekick, Bosley.

At first known as Jiggle TV and not taken too seriously, the show became a breakout hit and the actresses household names. Fawcett soon left and was replaced by Cheryl Ladd. Tanya Roberts also joined the cast in later seasons as ratings were declining.

The property got an infusion of female empowerment energy in its big-screen treatment in 2000, when Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu starred in the action comedy hit directed by McG. (Bill Murray played Bosley.) The film was followed by a bloated and not well-received sequel, 2003’s Charlie’s Angles: Full Throttle, that effectively killed the movie franchise.

Read More Elizabeth Banks' $200 Million Path to Directing 'Pitch Perfect 2'

An attempt to revive it as a television series in 2011 only lasted four episodes.

Banks, who has demonstrated a gift for comedy and drama as an actress, has also shown an affinity for female empowerment projects as the steward of the Pitch Perfect franchise. The movies focus on an all-girl a cappella group that takes on male rivals.

Banks made her feature directorial debut with Pitch 2, one of Universal’s massive summer hits. The movie, with a budget in the $30 million range, opened to almost $70 million domestic, giving her the second-largest opening for a female director. (The movie has made almost $184 million domestic.)

The movie also opened up a new career chapter for Banks, that of a director. She is already attached to direct YA fantasy Red Queen at Universal. Although Universal is putting together the pieces for Pitch 3, her involvement as director remains unclear.

She is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and Ziffren Brittenham.