Chinese 'Baywatch' Full-Length Announced, No Word on the Government's Stance on Gratuitous Slow Motion

We already know that Hollywood has been reaching into their back catalogues of films, to remake them for Chinese audiences, now it seems they’ve started to do the same with TV shows.

Baywatch, the 90’s beach-themed action drama TV series, is already getting an R-rated reboot that is set to be released in 2017.

That film features Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Zac Effron, and cameos from original cast-members David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson who achieved global fame as iconic beach babe and lifeguard hero CJ Parker in the original.

But plans for a Chinese remake, called Heavenly Island, were also unveiled by American producer Tony Scotti at a news conference at the Beijing International Film Festival last Thursday.

“One of the most successful television shows in history is a show called Baywatch,” Scotti told the audience. “It was number one in the world for many years. We thought about adapting it for China, but then we decided, maybe we should do it as a motion picture.”

Scotti’s television syndication company All American Television acquired the first-run syndication rights to Baywatch in late 1990. Along with shows like Dynasty, Baywatch used to attract three-times more viewers than local shows in China in the early 90’s.

Heavenly Island, which is already in development, will be set on China's tropical island province of Hainan. That’s the same island where nudist  sunbathers have been facing a crackdown for being "uncivilised" and "un-Chinese", so there’s a potential plot line for the Chinese Baywatch (but without any classic Baywatch slow-mo running sequences, please).

But despite what the producers claim, the remake seems to bear little, if any, resemblance to the original.

Producer Alexandra Rose, said the film will feature young Chinese actors “playing out their dramas and their fun and their laughter on the backdrop of music, dance and fashion, all of which are really popular today among young teens.”

Three-time Grammy award-winning choreographer Walter Painter will oversee the dance elements of the film which sounds more like Glee on the Beach than the original lifeguard action show.

According to Rose, a new event called the China International Youth Expo – which she calls an “innovative gathering place for Chinese young people of all nationalities” – will not only form the background of the film, it will also become a real-life event.

Image: gmmfilmgroup.com