Finally, after all these years, the powers that be in Hollywood have decided that The Cannonball Run is worth remaking. The cross-country action/comedy flick, starring the likes of Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, and Dean Martin, was made back in 1981, and now, nearly 40 years later, it looks that some of the most high-profile filmmakers in the biz will be giving the classic racing film the big-budget reboot treatment it deserves. Or, at least, they're trying to.
For one, you've got the live action remake, which is inching closer to production after a director and writing team were announced earlier this year. Then there's the LEGO spinoff. Yep, as in those building block toys that you played with as a kid. Called The Billion Brick Race, this animated send-up of The Cannonball Run is an actual movie with an actual writer and director attached to it. Though, according to Screen Rant, this film has been something of a slow work in progress.
Per Screen Rant:
Writer/director Drew Pearce has revealed that his LEGO Movie spinoff Billion Brick Race is a massive, genre-blending racing movie in the vein of classics like Cannonball Run. At one point, the Iron Man 3 writer was attached to direct the animated project from a script that he cowrote with Jason Segel, based on an original idea that Pearce had pitched to Warner Bros. for its LEGO franchise. For the time being, however, the film is in a holding pattern with an uncertain future.
Following The LEGO Movie's runaway critical and commercial success in 2014, WB began to rapidly expand the LEGO cinematic universe to encompass multiple spinoffs (The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO Ninjago Movie), in addition to at least one sequel to directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller's original LEGO film. Billion Brick Race was part of that original LEGO sequel/spinoff slate and even had a tentative Mary 2019 release date at one point. Since then, the project has struggled to move forward and most recently saw The Book of Life helmsman Jorge R. Gutiérrez (who stepped in after Pearce left the film) drop out as director, for as-yet unspecified reasons.
Read More: Ready for a Remake of This Outrageous '80s Cross-Country Car Movie?
I don't care if you're 5 or 105, this recent string of LEGO movies has made for some quality entertainment, and I'm guessing that The Billion Brick Race will offer more of the same and make an absolute killing at the box office.
Considering that The LEGO Movie sequel, appropriately named The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, is coming out in 2019, we may have to wait just a little bit longer for The Billion Brick Race to make its big-screen debut.
But since we're talking LEGO movies, apparently they released a trailer for the upcoming sequel a little over a month ago. Though that definitely wasn't necessary. I was sold at "LEGO Movie 2."
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