Kathryn Bigelow’s acclaimed action thriller Point Break, starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, is heading back to theaters to celebrate its 35th anniversary. Come again, brah? It sounded like you said 35th anniversary, which can’t possibly be right because 1991 was just—f***, I’m old.
A newly restored 4K version of Point Break will be released by Resurgence Media Group, Saga Arts, and Fathom Entertainment, with screenings set for August 16 and 19.
The presentation will also include an exclusive introduction from surfing legend Matt Archbold, who served as Swayze’s surfing double and helped teach the principal cast how to catch waves.
“Few films have built a following as loyal as Point Break’s,” said Shannah Miller, VP of Marketing, Fathom Entertainment. “Thirty-five years after it first hit theatres, this newly restored 4K version gives that devoted following exactly what they’ve been asking for: Bodhi, Johnny Utah and those legendary surfing and skydiving sequences, back where they belong on the big screen.“
The classic film follows “a gang of bank robbers call themselves the Ex-Presidents and commit their crimes while wearing masks of Reagan, Carter, Nixon and Johnson. The FBI believes that the members of the gang could be surfers and sends young agent Johnny Utah (Reeves) undercover at the beach to mix with the surfers and gather information. As he is drawn deeper into the world of charismatic surfer Bodhi (Swayze) and his thrill-seeking crew, Utah must decide where his loyalties lie.“
Confession time, this is one of those iconic ’90s movies that I’ve just never watched. Perhaps this is my chance.
Point Break was remade in 2015, and it’s probably safe to say that version didn’t inspire the same devoted following. However, original screenwriter W. Peter Iliff later developed a sequel that would have centered on Johnny Utah’s daughter.
Rather than another movie, the project was conceived as a television series. According to Iliff, Utah’s daughter would have been an Olympic snowboarder whose career was derailed after she blew out her knee. The injury sends her spiralling into a dangerous world of fast cars, painkillers, and addiction. Years later, now sober, she joins the FBI.
“Johnny Utah has been missing. His body’s not been found. He’s [been reported] dead for years. There’s a mystery around where he is, and you’re going to find out – he’s not dead,” he teased. “There’s a bigger story that evolves around that, while she gets involved in this eco-terrorist movement, which of course is now a big thing.“
He continued, “There are two sides to the movement. There are those who are trying to get corporations to do the right thing to save our planet. And there are those who’ll put a gun in their hand and maybe rob a bank to fund their more violent approach. The FBI is after these people. She’s sent to go deep undercover with this group and it’s the same [question as in ‘Point Break’]: which side of the badge are you on?“
Although this particular project didn’t get off the ground, it was announced last year that a new Point Break TV series is in the works at AMC. Set 35 years after the events of the original film, it will focus on a dangerous heist crew with ties to the Ex-Presidents gang.