“Cannonball Run 2” Japanese Theatrical Poster
Despite the departure of director Etan Cohen (Get Hard), a remake of Cannonball Run is still in gear. According to Deadline, Warner is now negotiating with Night At The Museum’s Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant to write and Central Intelligence’s Rawson Thurber to direct the film.
The remake is being spearheaded by producer Andre Morgan (Man from Hong Kong), who has been making movies at Warner Bros and Golden Harvest since Enter the Dragon in 1973. Alan Gasmer (Vikings) is co-producing.
The original Cannonball Run franchise consisted of three movies – produced in 1981, 1984 and 1989 (the 3rd film was titled Speed Zone aka Cannonball Fever) – where known for their car-related stuntwork, as well as their all-star cast which included names like Burt Reynolds, Frank Sinatra, Roger Moore, Dean Martin, Richard Kiel, Michael Hui, Sammy Davis Jr, Dom DeLuise, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Brooke Shields and many more.
To Asian cinema fans, the first two Cannonball Run films are mostly remembered for the inclusion of Jackie Chan, who was fairly unknown to most Americans in the early 80s.
We’ll keep you posted on Cannonball Run as we hear more. Stay tuned!
