From Bestseller to Bust to Binge: Matt Reeves Turns The Bonfire of the Vanities Into a Series

If you ever wanted a pop culture cautionary tale, the original movie version of 'The Bonfire of the Vanities' is legendary for all the wrong reasons. And now, that same story is getting another shot—this time as a limited series for Apple TV+, thanks to Matt Reeves (yes, the guy behind 'The Batman') and David E. Kelley (the king of bingeable legal drama).

How Did We Get Here? A Short History of a Big Mess

Back in 1990, Hollywood thought it had a sure thing. Tom Hanks had just scored an Oscar nom for 'Big.' Bruce Willis was still riding high off 'Die Hard.' Melanie Griffith, meanwhile, had made waves in 'Working Girl.' So, when all three signed on for 'The Bonfire of the Vanities,' an adaptation of Tom Wolfe's bestseller that skewered Wall Street excess and New York's 1980s culture wars, everyone expected it would be a massive hit. (Spoiler: it was not.)

Directed by Brian De Palma, the film cast Hanks as Sherman McCoy—a Wall Street 'Master of the Universe' whose cushy life unravels after a nighttime accident puts him in legal and social crosshairs. Willis played Peter Fallow, the tabloid reporter gleefully following McCoy’s implosion.

But instead of prestige, the movie tanked: just $15 million at the box office on a $47 million budget. And critics absolutely tore it apart. If that wasn’t bad enough, journalist Julie Salamon published 'The Devil’s Candy,' a blisteringly candid book about the disaster, made possible because De Palma foolishly let her watch the whole meltdown from the inside. The book shredded Hollywood's egos and pretty much cemented 'Bonfire' as a new benchmark in big-studio disasters. It made 'Heaven's Gate' look almost competent by comparison.

Now Apple’s Rolling the Dice (Again)

So why are Reeves and Kelley bravely circling this famously radioactive property now? According to reports, they're not trying to resurrect the movie—they're going straight back to Tom Wolfe's original novel as the basis for the show. If you think about it, that’s really the only way to go; the book has legit staying power, even if the movie is remembered mostly as a Hollywood punchline.

• Matt Reeves: Executive producing after most recently rebooting 'The Batman.'
• David E. Kelley: Running the show—he has a track record with limited series (including 'Presumed Innocent' and, just this year, an adaptation of Wolfe’s 'A Man in Full' for Netflix).
• Apple TV+: The home for this reboot, still hunting for its next big water-cooler obsession.

And, in a way, tackling 'Bonfire' makes a certain kind of sense. The story’s themes—Wall Street arrogance, media pile-ons, big-city tribalism, you name it—feel depressingly evergreen. Sherman McCoy is the kind of character every actor would line up to play: fascinating and, honestly, pretty unlikable. But here’s where the movie went off the rails—back in the '90s, they tried to sand all the rough edges off Hanks’ character to keep him lovable, and they rewrote Willis’s reporter into basically Bruce Willis with a press badge. None of it landed.

Is This a Good Idea?

So, would remaking a famously bad movie ever work? Honestly, when the source material is as sharp as Wolfe’s, I’d say yes. Turning it into a series also lets the story stretch out and breathe—which probably would’ve saved the movie if they’d thought of it in 1990. It’s a better fit for TV than a two-hour film ever was.

Just to round out the saga: the actual bomb didn’t sink any of its stars for good. Hanks got his dramatic redemption with 'Philadelphia,' Willis doubled down on being an action legend, and even De Palma eventually bounced back with 'Carlito’s Way.' Melanie Griffith, though, hit a bit of a skid.

Sometimes a flop is just what everyone needs to regroup and come back swinging.

"Sometimes, a disaster ends up being a huge creative shot in the arm, doesn't it?"