The true crime podcast Fight Night by iHeartPodcasts, Doghouse Pictures and Will Packer Media is heading for television screens. The TV adaptation comes from Universal Television which will adapt the nine-episode podcast into a limited drama series for Peacock titled “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” starring actor Kevin Hart.
Released in Oct. 2022, the Fight Night podcast told the story of a mysterious heist that took place during the after-party of Muhammad Ali’s historic October 26, 1970 comeback fight that began one of the largest armed robberies in U.S. history. In the podcast, host Jeff Keating unravels the story of how hundreds of wealthy guests headed to a private party and according to police reports robbers met them at the front door and herded the guests into the basement forcing them to hand over their money and jewelry. J.D. Hudson, one of the first black detectives in Atlanta’s desegregated police force was assigned to the robbery by the chief of police. When asked by a journalist years later, “When did the investigation end?” J.D. summed it up by saying, “When everybody was dead.”
The TV series is created and written by Shaye Ogbonna (Penguin, The Chi, God’s Country). Packer and Hart will both serve as executive producers. Shaye Ogbonna and Jason Horwitch (Echo 3, The Calling) will both serve as showrunners and executive producers.
Also executive producing are Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Hartbeat, Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media; Conal Byrne, Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts; and Jeff Keating and Lars Jacobson.
Craig Brewer (Empire, Dolemite Is My Name) will executive produce the series and direct episodes 101 and 102. Tiffany Brown (Hartbeat) and Kenny Burns will co-executive produce.
Following the release of Fight Night, iHeartMedia and Will Packer Media two years ago announced a partnership to produce original scripted and unscripted content for iHeartPodcasts. Packer – who has produced or executive produced 28 theatrical movies which have grossed over $1 billion at the box office, including “Girls Trip” and “Straight Outta Compton” – has said that creative audio stories allows it to expand its focus across different media platforms.
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