Like the villain in a horror movie, rumours that the **Police Academy **franchise will return to haunt our screens just won’t stay dead. Steve Guttenberg hasn’t stopped chatting about the idea of an eighth film featuring him and some of the old crew. But now it sounds like New Line is going down the reboot route instead.
Original series producer Paul Maslansky is the man in the driving seat for the new version, though as yet there is no writer or director man (or woman) enough to take on the challenge of the latest batch of recruits.
Police Academy, of course, for anyone who doesn’t remember or wasn’t born in the ‘80s, was the 1984 comedy film about a city throwing open the doors of its cop school to anyone who wanted to join. The resulting group of misfits naturally end up saving the day.
Guttenberg starred as Carey Mahoney, who became the charismatic de facto leader of the group and saw it through six sequels, until diminishing returns on 1994’s Mission To Moscow saw it finally put out of our growing misery.
But having made around $240 million and spawned a couple of TV shows, you can understand why New Line and Maslansky might be ready to wrench open the Academy doors once more.
"It's going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV," Maslansky tells The Hollywood Reporter. "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."
But will The Gut get a role? And will he come back even if it’s just for a cameo? Time to start the campaign! Or, you know, find about £30 and a packet of jelly beans to tempt him back.