Originally hosted by Kutcher, Punk’d debuted in 2003. Each episode of the MTV series featured elaborate pranks involving hidden cameras, accomplices, and outrageous scenarios. Eventually, after the situation had escalated, Kutcher would reveal himself, letting the celebrity know they’d been “Punk’d.” The show went off the air in 2007, but it was revived in 2012. Kutcher stuck around as an executive producer, but the revival featured guest celebrity hosts, including Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Dax Shepard, who’d previously worked on the series as an accomplice.
With STX still growing, it doesn’t have an international distribution apparatus yet, meaning it would need to team up with another studio to distribute the films overseas. Sources told THR that Warner Bros. looks to be interested in getting in on the still untitled project. Movies in the series will stick to much smaller budgets than the typical feature-length film — around $5 million — but are hoped to bring in substantial profits. A previous MTV series-turned-movie, Jackass, was hugely successful with a similar approach and spawned multiple sequels. According to Box Office Mojo, Jackass: The Movie took a budget of $5 million and brought in over $64 million in the U.S. alone.
Goldberg’s new project won’t be a direct adaptation of Punk’d to the big screen, but we’re curious to see how it is influenced by its predecessor. Both the original and the revival of the TV series gave us a lot of laughs over the years. Since Punk’d, Goldberg has gone on to work on several projects with Kutcher; the former host has most recently been renovating his mom’s home on the Houzz’s online video series, “My Houzz.”
