The 24 Movie Could Still Not Happen For This Reason

Key Takeaways

The 24 Movie is officially in development, but until filming starts, it’s not a certainty.
Plans for a 24 Movie have been in the works for a long time, facing obstacles and delays.
The key to success for the 24 Movie might lie in overcoming past challenges and staying true to the original format.

The 24 Movie is officially in development with 20th Century Studios and Disney in collaboration for the upcoming project. Kiefer Sutherland hasn’t officially signed on the dotted line to return as Jack Bauer, but it’s hard to imagine what a big screen 24 outing would be like without the eponymous action hero. Fans need to keep their excitement at bay until more details are revealed about the 24 Movie, as there have been a number of false starts in the past.

Despite being in the works, until filming starts on the 24 Movie, it isn’t definitely happening. Hollywood seems like it’s in a precarious position at the moment after the strikes, and projects are being delayed and canceled at a worryingly frequent pace. Ever since the official announcement was made about the big screen adaptation, updates have been hard to come by, so it’s unclear what is actually happening with it.

The 24 Movie Should Copy This Big Action Franchise’s Reboot Title

It might be an idea to simply call the 24 Movie: Jack Bauer, and it would be reminiscent of the Jason Bourne reboot.

A 24 Movie Has Long Been Planned And It’s Positive That It’s Officially In Development But That Doesn’t Mean It’ll Happen

24 Movie
Potential Cast	Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rasjkub, Carlos Bernard and Elisha Cuthbert
Executive Producer	Brian Grazer
Created By	Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran

A big screen Jack Bauer adventure has been discussed for many years now, but it’s been stuck in development hell. It was a significant breakthrough when news broke in July 2024, that the 24 Movie was officially happening, but this positive development should still be treated with a level of caution, based on what has happened previously. It’s been over 10 years since Jack Bauer last appeared on television screens in 24: Live Another Day, and the landscape of the industry has changed significantly in that period of time. However, fans haven’t forgotten Jack Bauer and the groundbreaking real-time format of 24, and clearly want to see more of the ex-counter-terrorist agent.

Things have gone significantly quiet on the 24 Movie front in recent months. Kiefer Sutherland hasn’t said anything about the project, no other cast members have signed on and there isn’t a story, so it’s really up in the air whether it’ll actually even happen. 2025 will hopefully yield some forward momentum for the 24 Movie, otherwise it might end up on the scrap heap once again. The stumbling block in the past always seemed to be how 24 would be condensed into a two-hour movie, with the real-time format being so important to the television series. This may still be an important issue that needs to be resolved, but other factors also come into the equation. For instance, how much is it going to cost to produce a high quality movie version of 24? It can’t just be an extended episode of the show, or they might as well do another series.

Why Exactly Have Plans For The 24 Movie Not Come to Fruition Until Now?

Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment is behind the latest attempt to get the 24 Movie off the ground, and he was also behind many previous attempts. Grazer has been open about the struggles to get Jack Bauer’s very bad day transferred to the big screen, and the last time he spoke about it was in an interview with Deadline back in 2017, while promoting spin-off series 24: Legacy:

It just worked better for television. We couldn’t really find the right world to put it in, the right location. To base it in America seemed not very authentic, whereas to do a TV show in America was the perfect bridge. We put it in European countries, but it wasn’t working there with the economics. We couldn’t find enough money to make it. So we couldn’t find the right location, we couldn’t find the right story, and it was always too expensive.

If these were the issues in the past, what has actually changed? Hollywood has arguably become even more risk-averse, so money might still be a stumbling block, not to mention the fact that 24 always worked better on television, as Grazer said himself. He also spoke about how close the project had come to going into development in the past in the same interview:

I got Howard (Gordon) involved, I got Kiefer involved, I worked on the movie for two years.

The 24 Movie reboot is clearly a passion project for Brian Grazer, and this determination to make it happen seems to be shared by Kiefer Sutherland and the original showrunner, Howard Gordon. There have been ridiculous rumors in the past that involved a potential Die Hard crossover, and thankfully that never happened. There was also a script by Billy Ray that was reportedly turned down by Fox, and Gordon spoke about this in an interview with Assignment X back in 2010:

There was a script, but ultimately it wasn’t the right proposition. It wasn’t strong enough or compelling enough to the studio obviously to move ahead with it.

Here’s hoping the latest idea for the 24 Movie does finally happen, and the long-running television series becomes a successful action movie franchise.