New Line Cinema has confirmed that a remake/re-working of the Police Academy franchise has been agreed to. New Line will be partnering up with Warner Bros. in the production. Police Academy can be considered the stand out comedy franchise of the 1980s, beginning with the first film in 1984. Six sequels followed, concluding with 1994's Mission to Moscow. But that wasn't all. Police Academy also spun off into a cartoon series, and a short lived live-action sitcom starring Michael Winslow in 1997. Winslow is the only actor to appear in every single Police Academy film, including the cartoon and the sitcom.
Last year Steve Guttenberg started a flurry of rumors by claiming that a script was in the works, but little came of it. Whether or not this film is based off that same script is unknown. Nor is there any word on casting. Nobody has been confirmed to return yet, but long-time producer Paul Maslansky did have something to say on the subject...
"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."
Is it possible we haven't seen the last of Sgt. Carey Mahoney and the rest of the gang? What about Bubba Smith? Kim Cattrall? I think we can rest assured that Michael Winslow will be back in some form. It's the "new talent" that has me concerned. It's too early to start speculating now, but I'm very curious to see what path this film takes from here. Maybe we can get Steve Guttenberg on the show to talk about it? Hmmm...
You can check out the THR's coverage of the story here.
