Get Hard director Etan Cohen will direct Cannonball, a new big screen take on the Cannonball Run franchise
Cannonball Run is returning to theaters as Deadline reports that Warner Bros. Pictures has secured the franchise rights and is in the midst of developing a new big screen take, simply titled Cannonball. They’ve set Get Hard director Etan Cohen to helm with Andre Morgan and Alan Gasmer attached to produce. According to the outlet, the studio is semantically calling the new film a “relaunch” rather than a “remake.”
The Cannonball Run, released in 1981, was directed by Hal Needham from a screenplay by Brock Yates. Starring the ensemble cast of Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Adrienne Barbeau, Dean Martin, Jackie Chan, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dom DeLuise, The Cannonball Run follows the contestants of a massive illegal cross country race that stretches from Connecticut to California. The original film received a sequel, Cannonball Run II, in 1984, also helmed by Needham. Reynolds was approached to reprise his franchise role for a third film, to be titled Cannonball Fever, but he ultimately turned it down. Instead, Jim Drake helmed a 1986 sequel/spinoff retitled Speed Zone. Speed Zone featured an almost entirely new cast made up primarily of SCTV actors. Jamie Farr’s Sheik Abdul ben Falafel is the only character to appear in all three Cannonball Run films.
Get Hard, which stars Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell, was released last year and marked the directorial debut of Etan Cohen, whose credits as a screenwriter include Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder and Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black III.
How do you feel about a Cannonball Run remake/relaunch? Who would you like to see as part of a new ensemble cast? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
