My premiere piece for boxoffice.com is up today … and it builds on a theme started here a few days ago.
Now that “Star Trek’s” relaunch is an unabashed success, what other franchises will Hollywood look to reboot?
Special thanks to this site’s readers to contributing to the conversation. One of my sources for the piece scoffs at the notion of a new “Smokey and the Bandit,” but I think that franchise could be shrewdly retooled for our fast ‘n furious age.
Whether it’ll be worth seeing is anyone’s guess.
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of both the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
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Smokey and the Bandit?
Actually, a great idea. It’s essentially a libertarian movie and I suspect those are going to be increasingly popular. Whether you can get present Hollywood to make or not it is another question as it doesn’t “fit the narrative” . Perhaps the nice folks overseas who did “Taken” would be interested in making a ton of bucks?
I smell a hit here, K … and the obligatory Burt and/or Sally cameo …
I’m sure Hollywood would do a bang up job. Substitute the requisite Trans Am for a Prius, have Snowman hauling endangered species or something or other. They turned “Dukes of Hazard” into an environmental rant, why not screw up Smokey as well?
The bad guys could be environmentalists that were angry that Smokey’s friend had a semi-truck and Smokey drove a gas guzzling sports car. Smokey doesn’t take their garbage seriously so they hunt him across four states to make him understand. Insert funny moments, a hot babe somewhere in the mix and a droopy dog and you’re good to go. It should be made outside of Hollywood’s grasp though. I don’t want Sam Worthington to be the next Smokey, or that wimp that played Wolverine on X-Men.