More than five years after aCannonball Run remakewas first put into development by Warner Bros., the studio is finally moving forward on the project. Warner Bros. has brought on Rawson Marshall Thurber (Central Intelligence) to direct this new version ofCannonball Run, with the writing team of Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (Night at the Museumfranchise) coming aboard to write the script. Andre Morgan, who produced the originalCannonball Runmovies, is producing alongside Alan Gasmer, although no production schedule was released at this time.
We first heard about aCannonball Runremake in October 2011, when the studio was reportedly considering Guy Ritchie and Shawn Levy to direct the film. That report also claimed that Guy Ritchie was eyeing Brad Pitt to star, while Shawn Levy wanted Ben Stiller. The studio was reportedly trying to secure financing from General Motors, through a deal that would showcase their new line of cars in the movie. That deal never materialized, but we reported in March 2016 thatEtan Cohenhad signed on to write and direct this project, which was described as a “relaunch” of theCannonball Runfranchise.
Deadlinereports that this will in fact be a “relaunch” of the original franchise, which likely means that the continuity from the first three films will be kept intact, although no specifics were given about this “relaunch.” It’s possible that this relaunch will feature stars from the original franchise, such as Burt Reynolds orJackie Chan. Still, with no details surfacing about the story thusfar, it remains to be seen who this story will focus on.
The originalCannonball Runmovie was based on an actual cross-country road race, created byBrock Yates, who passed away last year from Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of 82. The first race was ran in 1971, when Brock Yates was working for Car & Driver Magazine, with the race created to protest stricter traffic laws that were being put in place all over the country. The race, entitled “Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash,” named after Erwin “Cannonball” Baker, who had set a number of cross-country race records. There were five races run in total, with the fifth in 1979 featuring a whopping 46 teams, quite the jump from just the four racers who participated in the first race.
Still to this day, there are fans who run their own time-lapsed races, to see if they can break the records set in the original fiveCannonball Runraces. The originalCannonball Runmovie, released by 20th Century Fox, was a big hit when it debuted in 1981, earning $72.1 million during its theatrical run, which, was the sixth-highest grossing movie to be released that year. When adjusted for inflation, the domestic box office take is the equivalent of a $225.8 million gross today. The 1984 sequelCannonball Run IIreleased by Warner Bros. didn’t fare so well, earning $28 million, but the 1989 sequelCannonball Fever, also known asSpeed Zone, only earned $3.07 million. It remains to be seen ifThe Cannonball Runcan restore this franchise to its former glory. Rawson Marshall Thurber most recently directedCentral Intelligenceand he will next take onDwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper.
