One of the great culture institutions of the 1990s has taken a big step forward in its push to leap to the silver screen. The Hollywood Reporter says Paramount has hired writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka to come up with a script for a new Baywatch movie.

Yes that’s right, the TV series about the lives and loves of bodacious lifeguards on the beaches of sunny California is being developed as a feature film. Even better, THR says Ghostbusters and Up in the Air producer Ivan Reitman is onboard to produce the flick, which the studio hopes to launch in the summer of 2011.

Co-writer of The Break-Up Jeremy Garelick has been tapped to direct the picture, which appears to be heading in the direction of comedy, rather than the beach-based drama of the original series. The take would be not dissimilar to that of Drew Barrymore’s reinvention of Charlie’s Angels – another kitschy  TV series that did boffo business at the movies.

The original Baywatch series spanned an entire decade, running from 1989-1999 starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson. Originally on NBC primetime, producers brought it to syndication after it was axed by the network. There, the show set new records for popularity, with the Guinness Book of World Records reporting that at its peak the show was watched by 1.1 billion viewers a week.

(Photo by PR Photos)

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