The march towards a new Police Academy continues as the world waits with baited breath; so far New Line has announced a director as well as a new screenwriter hired to do rewrites. And now, thanks to WhatCulture, a few more nuggets of information has been gleaned about the project.
In an exclusive interview with composer Robert Folk, they learned that this new Police Academy will be a reboot of the entire franchise, something I think we all just assumed was the case. In addition, Folk also gushed about the pre-production on the project and of director Scott Zabielski, whom he thinks will bring a 21 Jump Street-style edginess to the reboot. Here’s what Folk had to say:
“They are thinking of it as, too coin the overused term, a ‘reboot’. That is how they are looking at it, as doing the whole series all over again for a new generation of that target audience.”
“It is a lot of fun. I have seen about half a dozen test shots, and they are trying to establish a certain style of visualizing the film and a certain style of casting. Those test shots were hilarious. I would say that the director is extremely young and very edgy; I am convinced that he is going to come up with something that has a lot of raw humor.”
It also turns out that Police Academy is close to getting ready to officially begin, as Folk is fairly confident that the movie will get officially greenlit by September. Apparently this not a reboot that will be announced and then promptly forgotten; New Line is serious about relaunching the franchise for a new generation. And given the success of 21 Jump Street, there is a receptive enough audience who will potentially be on board. They’ll just need to find the right kind of edgy humor; i.e. one that actually speaks to the younger audience instead of being an approximation of edgy created a bunch of middle-aged men in suits. Believe it or not, there’s a fine line.
Expect more Police Academy news to surface in September (maybe even before). Hopefully it’ll involve some, you know, casting or something more tangible.
Does the news of Police Academy going in a more “edgy” direction surprise you at all? Anyone holding out hope this’ll end up a success a la 21 Jump Street or are we all going to stick with “snarky pessimism”?