Paramount Pictures is developing a Hawaii Five-O feature with Destin Daniel Cretton attached to develop and direct. Chris Bremner, whose credits include Bad Boys for Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die, is writing the screenplay with Jackie writer Noah Oppenheim.
Entertainment 360's Guymon Casady assembled the package with the estate of original series creator Leonard Freeman and is set to produce. Paramount was approached first because of the property's long history with CBS.
The project is real, but it is still early
There is no announced cast and no release date. Reports on the project also make clear that the deal still needs to be finalized, while Paramount itself has not publicly commented.
Plot details remain under wraps. What is known is that the movie is being developed from the original Hawaii Five-O series that debuted on CBS in 1968, rather than being announced as a direct continuation of the 2010 television reboot.
That distinction leaves plenty unresolved, including who would play Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams and how closely a modern film would preserve the original show's police-procedural structure.
Hollywood has tried this before
A theatrical Hawaii Five-O adaptation was already attempted in the mid-1990s, during a period when older television properties were regularly being rebuilt as movies. That version fell apart amid a legal dispute involving Paramount and the Freeman estate.
DreamWorks later explored another feature in the early 2000s, with Robert Towne writing a screenplay. It never reached production either.
The property eventually returned to television instead. CBS launched a new Hawaii Five-0 series in 2010 starring Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan. It ran for 10 seasons and 240 episodes before ending in 2020.
Cretton gives the project a Hawaiian connection of its own
Cretton's involvement is particularly notable because the filmmaker grew up in Haiku on Maui. After directing projects including Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Hawaii Five-O would bring him to a property whose location is inseparable from its identity.
His development slate is already crowded, including Lionsgate's live-action Naruto project, while his future with Marvel remains a subject of continued attention.
For now, Hawaii Five-O has a director attached, two screenwriters and a producer assembling the pieces. It does not yet have a cast, a production start or a place on Paramount's release calendar.
