New Line To Reboot Police Academy Movies
The reboot craze continues as yet another 80’s franchise has been rescued from bargain bin purgatory. Police Academy, the venerable comedy series, which spawned seven movies will soon return in an all-new incarnation. Oh, but don’t worry you hardcore “Police Academaniacs” (yeah, I made that up…I think,) Paul Maslansky, the producer behind all of the original films will return to help oversee the project and make sure it lives up to the original’s integrity. (Am I really typing this?)
As some may recall, (since six sequels tends to dilute a series’ original premise,) 1984’s first Police Academy film portrayed a city in crisis and in desperate need of Police recruits. The newly-elected Mayor then mandates that the local Police Academy welcome new recruits from all walks of life, attracting a healthy mix of the most zany screwballs ever. Of course, that group of screwballs was led by Carey Mahoney, played by the one and only Steve Guttenberg, who was kind of “sentenced” to join, and was solely devoted towards getting himself kicked-out. Here’s the catch: They’re not allowed to kick him out! Thus, comedy history was forever changed….sort of. (And he did it, no less, rocking a wife-beater and a pair of Daisy Dukes.)
Details on the reboot project (i.e. casting and direction) are still scarce, however, according to Maslansky:
“It’s going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV,” Maslansky said. “It’s going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It’ll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we’ll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme.”
Rose-colored glasses aside, the Police Academy brand definitely has nostalgia as its biggest ally. Frankly, the substance of the films’ jokes themselves do not stand the test of time, and in some cases, are painfully bad. However, they were extremely popular. The first film, which was a huge hit for Warner Bros., grossing over $81 million, was more of a conventional crude, R-Rated 80’s romp, filled to the brim with curse words, sexism, racial slurs, and full-frontal nudity. Each subsequent sequel was downgraded, with part two being PG-13, to eventually settling on a family-friendly PG rating for the rest of the series. The franchise even spawned a cartoon series with its own line of toys. Of course, it would eventually go out with a whimper, as the box office figures took incremental hits for each film, until its last, 1994’s Mission to Moscow grossed a laughable $126,247.
Ignominious end aside, it is possible that this could be something worthwhile. The basic, stripped-down formula does leave things open to updates that would give it relevancy. Plus, good casting could also help make this film into something that might be worth some excitement. It wouldn’t even be that hard with the pool of capable contemporary comedy stars made up of the likes of Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson, etc.
The comedy movie genre is in kind of an awkward state at the moment. They’re either too ironic and hipster-esque or just plain formulaic garbage. This project could fall flat on its face, but it could also serve as a nice reminder of a time when comedies, while crass, lowbrow, and disposable, were more than plentiful and just pure, mindless fun.
Source:g4tv.com
