The Furious 7 star is reportedly keen to play Jack Burton, the role made famous by Kurt Russell in the 1986 action epic, about an all-American trucker who finds himself caught up in a mystical old battle in San Francisco, California's Chinatown.

Bosses at 20th Century Fox, the same studio behind the original, approved the project after being pitched the idea by Johnson and his producing partners at Seven Bucks Productions, and they have since hired X-Men: First Class writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz to pen the script for the movie revamp, according to TheWrap.com.

Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China only grossed $11.1 million (£6.9 million) at the North American box office upon its release, but it went on to become a cult favourite among fans.