A reboot of Starship Troopers has been kicking around for several years, despite the fact that Paul Verhoeven’s cult classic (which could describe most of his films) is pretty great as is. It’s hard to imagine another filmmaking team successfully delivering a great sci-fi B-movie that perfectly functions as a satire of sci-fi B-movies layered into a satire of the military (it’s like a seven-layer satire dip, really) — especially in 2016, or 2017, or whenever this thing happens. But if Donald Trump wins the presidency, it could be quite timely.

THR reports that Columbia Pictures has tapped Mark Swift and Damian Shannon to script a reboot of Starship Troopers, Verhoeven’s 1997 film that was based on Robert A. Heinlein’s novel of the same name. The not-too-distant future story centers on a soldier named Johnny Rico who is drafted into an intergalactic war between Earth and massive bug-like aliens from outer space.

Shannon and Swift are best known for scripting the Friday the 13th reboot (which was occasionally entertaining), and their recent credits include next year’s Baywatch movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.

 

Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers starred Casper van Dien, Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Ironside and Dina Meyer, and grossed $54 million in the US (with an additional $65 million worldwide) on a reported budget of $100 million. It wasn’t a massive success by any means, but the darkly comical sci-fi action flick developed a sizable cult following when it hit DVD.

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