"Sherlock Holmes" Producer Doing "The Three Musketeers"

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

"Sherlock Holmes" producer Lionel Wigram is setting up a similar period-set but modern-toned update of another great literary adventure, Alexandre Dumas' "The Three Musketeers," at Warner Bros. Pictures.

According to Variety: In the wake of 'Sherlock Holmes's' success, the next literary mainstay to get the "reboot" treatment will be the 'Three Musketeers', Alexandre Dumas' age-old tale about D'Artagnan, a young drifter pulled into a three-way, 17th century bromance between swashbucklers.

Peter Straughan ("The Men Who Stare at Goats") has been hired to pen an adaptation that will play up the action, humor and 'sexier' elements of the story.

No director or cast has yet been announced. The project is not linked with Paul W. Anderson's 3D version of the story currently in development.

While the reboots have become the norm in Hollywood these days--with high-profile franchises like 'Spider-Man,' 'Jurassic Park.' 'Star Trek' and now possibly 'Superman' getting do-overs--'Musketeers' has been one story that studios have adapted again and again over the last 70 years.

The 1940s saw Lana Turner and Gene Kelly adapt the book, while the '70s gave us an Oliver Reed/Michael York version. The '90s featured two big-budget takes on the tale--Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen and Chris O'Donnell's chummy 1993 version, as well as the less campy 1998 film 'The Man in the Iron Mask,' which featured a crew of over-the-hill Musketeers (Jeremy Irons, Gerard Depardieu, John Malkovich) battling against a long-haired Leonardo DiCaprio as King Louie XIV.

There are three books written by Alexandre Dumas--"The Three Musketeers," "Twenty Years After" and "The Vicomte de Bragalonne"--which are collectively known as "The D’Artagnan Romances."

I thought Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” was pretty good, and I think the “Three Musketeers” could follow its success if put in the right hands. Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. put a great spin on the character, and if the “Musketeers” snags a solid cast and director, it could be a big smash.

Look for the new and hopefully improved “Musketeers” sometime in 2011.