Clock stops on 24 Movie

For the past eight seasons of 24, when the frustration got to Jack Bauer, the CTU agent would often shout “Dammit!”

In this situation, Kiefer Sutherland is reported to be furious at 20th Century Fox, which has called a halt to the movie version of his hit television show over budget and star salary issues.

According to Deadline, the problems includes scheduling issues around Sutherland’s shooting and promotional time for new television drama Touch, trouble locking in a director plus disputes over budget and salary.

While the movie has been developing for ages and faced other issues such as multiple script drafts, it all looked like the production would be on track to shoot around next month, with writers Billy Ray and Mark Bomback cracking a story that would, assuming the first movie is a box office success, play out across a trilogy.

And while there was no deal making taking place, Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua had apparently been in real talks to take on shot calling duties. Now, though, depending on the source, it’s either dead in the water, or on hold until everything can be worked out. But chances are, it seems unlikely to be shot before the year is out.

But have faith – not only does 20th Century Fox fully realise what it has in this potential franchise (thanks to global audience of fans demanding for Jack’s return) – but the movie also has Brian Grazer on board as producer.

Hopefully Grazer can sort out these issues over budget disagreements and get Jack Bauer back on track via the big screen.