Originally planned as a reunion for Mark Wahlberg and director pal Peter Berg, the duo’s big screen version of the classic 1970s TV series The Six Million Dollar Man has been pushed back just a bit as Berg has exited the director’s chair. Screenwriter Damian Szifron has taken over for the new film, which gives the hero a bit of a pay increase with the title The Six Billion Dollar Man.

THR reports that Berg is no longer set to direct The Six Billion Dollar Man for The Weinstein Co.’s Dimension label. The project will now be helmed by Szifron, who wrote the adaptation and directed last year’s acclaimed Spanish film Wild Tales, nominated for a Foreign Language Oscar.

Wahlberg previously worked with Berg on Lone Survivor and recently re-teamed with the director on Deepwater Horizon, which hits theaters in 2016. Szifron and Wahlberg will begin filming The Six Billion Dollar Man next September for a December 22, 2017 release date.

The film is based on the classic ’70s TV series, which followed Steve Austin, a military officer who suffers a near-fatal accident and becomes the subject of a top secret government program, granting him extraordinary abilities and transforming him into a superhero. The new film version is described as an “explosive reimagining” of the iconic character, giving modern audiences a new, contemporary take on the classic.

More From ScreenCrush