The Cannonball Run remake no one wanted
Staying with cinema, it appears there is a new Cannonball Run movie in the works. Why, no one can tell.
Warner Bros. has apparently enlisted the help of Night at the Museum writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon to form a script, while Dodgeball director (yes, they’re really bringing out the big guns) Rawson Thurber is tipped to direct.
Rather than a “next chapter” scenario, it is believed the new
Cannonball Run will reboot the sort-of franchise. But of course. So, think Fast & Furious with toilet humour.
There were three Cannonball Run movies in the 1980s, each consecutive release featuring a depleted cast of stars. Things had started well in 1981 with all manner of Hollywood notables signing up for the high-speed highway farce; Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Frank Sinatra, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis jnr, among others.
According to Autoweek, the real life “Cannonball Run” races lasted from 1971 until 1979, until publicity grew to a point where it became difficult to conduct the races in semi-secrecy from various law enforcement agencies along the route, the start and end points of which varied each year. Most commonly, the run was from New York City to the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California.
No cast members have been named for the remake, although it’s inevitable that someone creeping into their middle years, but still with a rogue-ish twinkle in the eye, will take on the Burt Reynolds character.