Wilmer Valderrama is Ponch in CHiPs Movie

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wilmer Valderrama will star as motorcycle cop Ponch in Warner Bros. Pictures' big-screen version of CHiPs. The studio has just acquired the rights for the TV series and has set Paul Kaplan and Mark Torgove to adapt.

Erik Estrada famously originated the Ponch role in CHiPs, which ran on NBC in the late 1970s and followed the adventures of California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers Francis Ponch Poncherello and Jon Baker. Larry Wilcox played Baker. The show had a serious macho tone, but over the years has achieved a cheesy, cult status. Sources say the project was built around the involvement of Valderrama, best known as Fez on That '70s Show.