Warner Bros. is in the middle of one of those studio spasms, which is usually what happens when a studio's senior executive leaves. The result? Other worker bees get the various projects and there’s a mad scramble to dig through the archives and find titles that can be rebooted. Now some big film names have been flung back into contention for some remake paint, including Lethal Weapon, Westworld and The Wild Bunch.
All three are either beloved big name franchises (Weapon) or well-regarded movies in their own right (Wild Bunch and, to a lesser extent, Westworld). And while we could sort of see an updated version of Westworld, the idea of someone taking on the Wild Bunch or the Weapon crew just strikes us as heading down the road to disappointment.
But Warners seems committed, particularly to Lethal Weapon. After years of rumours, several script drafts – the latest by original writer Shane Black – and attempts to crank out a fifth entry in the cop series, the studio seems to be putting the bullet in continuing adventures of Riggs and Murtaugh and starting over. The slight problem of Mel Gibson’s public profile hasn’t helped much, either.
Which is why, according to Deadline,Warners has hired Will Beal – a former police officer who scored a scriptwriting gig on the company’s slowly developing Gangster Squad film – to bring the tone back to its tough, edgy origins.
Could Lethal Weapon get remade? And, much more importantly, should it? We get the feeling people will be as mad as Martin Riggs if anyone tries to birth a new duo...