“A Wild & Orgasmic Ride”

Amazon MGM Studios‘ United Artists and Scott Stuber have acquired rights to one of the most iconic ’90s erotic thrillers.

Basic Instinct (1992) writer Joe Eszterhas is returning to pen a not-yet-titled reboot of the Paul Verhoeven-helmed box office hit, which starred Michael Douglas as Detective Nick Curran and Sharon Stone as his case’s seductive prime suspect Catherine Tramell, a manipulative crime novelist.

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“To those who question what an 80-year-old man is doing writing a sexy, erotic thriller: the rumors of my cinematic impotence are exaggerated and ageist,” said Eszterhas in a statement. “I call my writing partner the ‘Twisted Little Man’ and he lives somewhere deep inside me. He was born 29 and he will die 29 and he tells me he is ‘sky high up’ to write this piece and provide viewers with a wild and orgasmic ride. That makes me very happy.”

Producers include UA’s Stuber and Nick Nesbitt, with Vault Entertainment’s Craig Baumgarten and Adam Griffin, who is executive producing via the banner

Grossing nearly $353M worldwide, Basic Instinct received mixed reviews at the time, but ultimately became an influential piece of work in the erotic thriller genre, infamous for its NSFW interrogation scene featuring Stone.

In 2006, Stone returned for a critically-reviled sequel from writers Leora Barish and Henry Bean, directed by Michael Caton-Jones.

Eszterhas is a Hungarian-American journalist-turned-screenwriter whose hit titles include Flashdance (1983), Jagged Edge (1985), Basic Instinct (1992) and Showgirls (1995). Becoming known for his provocative style of screenwriting that explores themes of sexuality, power, and moral ambiguity, Eszterhas opened up about his time in the film industry in his acclaimed memoir Hollywood Animal (2004).

Stuber’s next films include Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein for Netflix and Deliver Me from Nowhere, the Scott Cooper-directed Bruce Springsteen biopic starring Jeremy Allen White for 20th Century Studios and Disney, both of which premiere this fall.

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