‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ Series Adaptation in the Works at Apple TV

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The 1990 film was a huge failure, so much so that a book was written detailing all the problems during its production. It’s become a well-known example of a box-office disaster. You’d expect that would prevent anyone from trying to remake it, but surprisingly, a new version of The Bonfire of the Vanities is now being planned.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project has attracted a lot of major talent and is now being developed as a TV series for Apple TV, produced by Warner Bros. TV. David E. Kelley, known for hit shows like Ally McBeal, The Practice, Big Little Lies, and the recent Apple TV adaptation of Presumed Innocent, is leading the development as showrunner.

Apple’s new series, Presumed Innocent, has an interesting history. It’s based on a 1990 film, which itself was adapted from a popular 1987 novel—a similar path to The Bonfire of the Vanities. Both were based on acclaimed books, but while the Presumed Innocent movie was successful, Bonfire failed because it didn’t effectively translate the complex ideas from Tom Wolfe’s novel to the screen.

Director Matt Reeves, known for The Batman, is now tackling The Bonfire of the Vanities. He’ll have more time to develop the story, which is a darkly comedic look at the excessive greed and ambition of the 1980s. The novel follows a Wall Street trader trying to hide a crime, the reporter investigating it, and the district attorney trying to bring him to justice.

Brian De Palma directed the film, which featured a star-studded cast including Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis, and F. Murray Abraham, with supporting roles played by Morgan Freeman and Kim Cattrall. Despite the impressive talent involved, the movie was heavily criticized and failed to attract viewers, earning only $15.6 million at the box office despite costing almost $50 million to make.

This marks the second attempt to adapt Kurt Vonnegut’s Bonfire into a streaming series. Almost a decade ago, Chuck Lorre, known for The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men, had a similar project in development with Amazon. Considering David Kelley’s successful previous adaptation of a Tom Wolfe novel (A Man in Full, featuring Jeff Daniels on Netflix), and his current shows Presumed Innocent and Margo’s Got Money Troubles at Apple, this new version of Bonfire appears to have a stronger chance of success.

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2026-04-03 16:21