Dimension Films has closed a deal to remake David Cronenberg’s seminal hit Scanners – and has reportedly tapped Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw 2 and 3) to start work sometime in 2008, working from a script by David Goyer (Batman Begins, Blade).

The redo is loosely scheduled to arrive in theaters later next year, according to Variety.

Oren Koules and Mark Burg – both of the recent Saws – produce along with René Malo, Pierre David, Clark Peterson and Jessica Borsiczky.

The 1981 original starred cult favorites Michael Ironside (Ice Planet, Splinter Cell) and Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner) and concerned super-powered people with deadly telepathic abilities. It is probably best known among gore fans for its climatic ‘exploding head’ effect – a landmark of Cronenberg’s early work and a sign of things to come.

Bousman will next shoot Saw 4, set for this spring in Toronto, before moving on to Repo! The Genetic Opera for Lionsgate and the new Scanners.