Denzel Washington, Antoine Fuqua mulling ‘Magnificent 7,’ report says

Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua could be mounting up together again for a remake of the classic western “The Magnificent Seven.”

Having previously collaborated on “Training Day” and the upcoming “The Equalizer,” Washington and Fuqua are in early talks for the remake, a project that has been in the works at MGM for some time and at one point had Tom Cruise attached. The news was first reported by Schmoes Know.

John Lee Hancock (“The Blind Side”) wrote the most recent draft of the script, which Nic Pizzolatto (“True Detective”) previously worked on.

The original “Magnificent Seven” (1960) was directed by John Sturges and starred Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson as members of a band of gunslingers defending an oppressed town from outlaws. The film was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai.”

Washington and Fuqua’s first outing together, 2001’s “Training Day,” was a critical and box-office hit, grossing $76 million domestically and earning Washington an Oscar for lead actor.

Their upcoming thriller “The Equalizer” is scheduled to hit theaters Sept. 26, and Sony is already bullish on the movie. The studio tapped writer Richard Wenk to start work on a sequel and will no doubt seek to get Washington and Fuqua on board as well, so the “Magnificent Seven” project could face some competition.