Eszterhas Wraps Basic Instinct Reboot Script for Amazon MGM
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- Joe Eszterhas has completed the Basic Instinct reboot script for Amazon MGM's United Artists, bringing back Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) and introducing her daughter, a new character named Jezebel.
- Eszterhas told Interview Magazine his condition for taking the job was the update must "be fun and enjoyable," and previously called the project a "wild and orgasmic ride."
- Eszterhas said he was paid $1.5M to stay away from the 2006 sequel Basic Instinct 2, dismissing it as "really boring," "a bland police procedural" that lacked "the spice and earth and wit of the original."
- Basic Instinct 2 grossed just $38M worldwide, a fraction of the original 1992 film's $352M worldwide haul.
- Sharon Stone backed Eszterhas's view that the reboot must outperform the 2006 follow-up, telling him in August: "If it goes the way of the one that I was in…good f*cking luck."
- The reboot is produced by United Artists' Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt, with Vault Entertainment's Craig Baumgarten and Adam Griffin executive producing.
Why it matters: The 1992 original's $352M worldwide gross and the 2006 sequel's $38M collapse set a stark creative and commercial range — and Eszterhas and Stone are publicly tying the new film's legacy to topping the sequel they both worked on (or were sidelined from), raising the bar for a long-gestating franchise revival.
