Russian Sci Fi Film BLACK LIGHTNING Inspires Universal English Remake

Call it the Russian response to BATMAN or TRANSFORMERS, but Universal Pictures is so inspired by the Russian Sci Fi film about a college student and his flying 1951 Volga entitled MOLNIYA CHERNAYA(BLACK LIGHTNING to you English speakers) that there are plans to produce a U.S. English remake of the recent foreign film. In it's native Russia, MOLNIYA CHERNAYA grossed $20 million dollars, which in terms of that much smaller film market was viewed as a smashing success. Universal is impressed with the story of the young student who acquires an old embarrassing car from his father which proves to have the magical ability to fly. This car transforms him into a crime fighter in this action hero adventure. In Russia, a sequel is already in the works to follow the success of the first film.

Part of the problem with the DVD of the Russian film that is available in the U.S. is that so little of the script is actually subtitled in English, making it a little bit difficult to follow the story beyond the awesome visuals. However, MOLNIYA CHERNAYA is a very impressive foreign action hero film, and beyond just adding English, a complete redo of the film by Universal with fresh computer generated effects would be real cool. At any rate, it appears that BLACK LIGHTNING may be one of the biggest hit Russian exports to the U.S. since since the fall of Communism.