Kevin Hart Is Preparing To Star In And Produce A Remake Of 'Scrooged'0

Fans seem to have spoken and have declared that remakes of 1980-90s classics need not apply.  Most recently, ‘The Hustle’, a female-fronted remake of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ came and went in theaters, following the lackluster performances of ‘Pet Sematary’, ‘Point Break’, ‘Flatliners’, ‘Red Dawn’, ‘Fame’, ‘Footloose’, ‘Overboard’, and on and on.  And let’s not even get into ‘Ghostbusters’.  But Kevin Hart is hoping to make the exception to the rule, as he is set to star in a reboot of the Bill Murray Yuletide hit ‘Scrooged’.

Perhaps working in this movie’s favor is the fact that ‘Scrooged’ was, itself, the nine thousandth retelling of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’.  In it, Murray portrayed the quintessential ’80s businessman Frank Cross (not Ebenezer Scrooge), who is visited on Christmas Eve by three specters who force him to revisit the cruelty and harm he has inflicted over the course of his rise to wealth and power.  Richard Donner directed, and the picture was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup (for Thomas R. Burman and Bari Dreiband-Burman).  The soundtrack single ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’ by Annie Lennox and Al Green became a perennial holiday favorite.  Joining Murray in the cast were Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Bobcat Goldthwait, David Johansen (a.k.a. Buster Poindexter), Carol Kane, and Alfre Woodward.

Hart will produce the remake under his HartBeat Productions company.  The project is in its earliest stages and doesn’t have a script or a director in place.  In fact, Hart is only suggested to be taking “a starring role,” not THE starring role, so there is a possibility that he won’t even take the lead, but that seems doubtful.

This is the second ’80s comedy classic Hart is preparing, as he is also attached to star in ‘The Great Outdoors’, to be directed by Randall Green (writer of Showtime’s ‘Billions’, and Netflix’s ‘The Perfect Date’).  The original 1988 movie was directed by Howard Deutch and starred Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, and Annette Bening.

Hart recently wrapped the sequel to ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’, and is gearing up to star in Tim Story’s ‘My Own Worst Enemy’, and the drama ‘Fatherhood’, based on the novel by Matt Logelin.  He is also reportedly starring in a movie based on the classic board game ‘Monopoly’.

Would you be open to a remake of ‘Scrooged’ starring Kevin Hart?

 

Source: Variety