'Rocky Horror Picture Show' Being Remade As TV Event

Combine a tendency to remake just about everything under the sun with an increased interest in musicals and "event" programming on TV, and we get this: a planned event version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Fox is setting up a two-hour special event Rocky Horror remake, potentially called The Rocky Horror Picture Show Event, with Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, This Is It) set to direct and choreograph.

Deadline has the info; various Fox divisions have considered doing something like this over the years, with a previous development aimed at the 40th anniversary of the stage musical, which was in 2013. (The Rocky Horror Picture Show stage musical inspired the 1975 film, directed by Jim Sharman.)

Now the event is exec produced by Gail Berman of The Jackal Group, Lou Adler (producer of the original film); and Kenny Ortega, with Fox 21 TV Studios producing. There's no cast yet, and the hiring on that side will determine in part how this goes forward.

One recent trend in TV events like this is a live broadcast; we don't know if that's part of the plan here. Those broadcasts have become magnets for live-tweeting enthusiasts, and that sort of thing could take the place of the audience dialogue that has become such a part of the Rocky Horror experience.

Deadline also says that "the TV remake is expected to stick faithfully to the text and the score of the original but greatly reimagine the story visually."