'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.': Can the retro TV adaptation find an audience?
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
The film adaptation of the 1960s spy series 鈥淭he Man From U.N.C.L.E.鈥� arrives in theaters on Aug. 14 and stars Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as American and Soviet agents.
鈥淯.N.C.L.E.鈥� (it stands for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, the agency for which its leads work) is based on the 1960s TV series of the same name. In the film, American Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Hammer) must join forces to save the world.
The movie also stars Alicia Vikander of 鈥淓x Machina,鈥� 鈥淟incoln鈥� actor Jared Harris, and Hugh Grant.
The film is the second adaptation of a 1960s TV series to arrive at the box office in recent weeks 鈥� the fifth film in the 鈥淢ission: Impossible鈥� series, which is based on the TV show of the same name, debuted on July 31.
How do studios try to make older TV shows like this relevant to present-day audiences? Some, like 鈥淢ission鈥� or the movie version of 鈥淕et Smart,鈥� update it to the present day. Others like 鈥�21鈥� and 鈥�22 Jump Street鈥� keep the basic idea of the show but put new characters at the center and poke fun at the original TV program 鈥� the 鈥淛ump Street鈥� films are most definitely comedies. 聽聽
Other movie adaptations of TV shows have also tried to make the film version of the story demonstrably different from the TV program, but this can have mixed results. It worked for the 鈥�21 Jump Street鈥� series but wasn鈥檛 as successful with, for example, a movie version of the 1960s TV show 鈥淏ewitched.鈥� A high-concept story in which the story took place during the present day and the sitcom was being remade, but stars a woman who is actually a witch, didn鈥檛 go over with audiences.
鈥淯.N.C.L.E.鈥� embraces a somewhat unusual strategy in that it鈥檚 a period piece, since the film takes place during the 1960s. Whether this setting 鈥� somewhat unusual for the summer, where current hits like 鈥淛urassic World, 鈥淚nside Out,鈥� and 鈥淢ission鈥� mostly take place during our own time in history 鈥� draws in audiences who want something different or keeps viewers away remains to be seen.
