As the new owner of Mint Mobile and a European football club, Ryan Reynolds is a busy man. He’s Deadpool, Detective Pikachu, a Free Guy, and that’s on top of being a dad. Does this guy even have a clue what’s going on? The “Clue” we’re referring to of course is the long-rumored remake of the cult classic. The original 1985 film starred an ensemble cast of comedic acting heavyweights.
Where does the project stand now? Well, there’s some good bad news on that one.
Let’s start with the good news first. A script is done! Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have submitted a draft to 20th Century Fox.
“We’ve written a draft of ‘Clue,’ and it’s still in development over at Fox. So it’s sort of bumping forward, whether it becomes a movie or not is generally in the hands of the movie Gods and not ourselves,” Reese told Discussing Film. “So we did our best on it. We’re proud of it. We love the franchise, and Ryan’s schedule is a busy one, so he has to choose among many projects.”
With Disney purchasing the assets of Fox’s film division, this project may not be a priority for them. At least not as much as it would’ve been for Fox. If you’re Disney, making millions and billions with Marvel Studios and Star Wars, are you really going to divert a bunch of effort into the remake of a 1985 box office bomb?
That’s where the bad news start. Clue” is fondly remembered today by those who discovered it on cable or on VHS back in the day. But, it was a complete flop at the box office on release. The combination of mixed reviews and failure to make back its production budget didn’t do the movie any favors in terms of notoriety at the time. Like many cult classics, it gained new life with VHS, and is rightly heralded by fans today as an absolute gem of a film.
Discussion of a remake dates back to at least 2018, with Ryan Reynolds set to star. Despite this slam dunk idea, various ups and downs continued to happen. Jason Bateman was on board to direct, only to depart in 2019 to focus on “Ozark.” James Bobin (“The Muppets“) was announced to replace Bateman, but there haven’t been any updates since then.
Reynolds himself doesn’t seem overly optimistic about the project. He doesn’t know if the project will ever see the light of day, and attributes this to Disney’s acquisition of Fox. While having a complete script is good, it doesn’t mean cameras are close to rolling.
This isn’t to say a remake of “Clue” will never happen. But for the moment, it might as well have been killed by Disney, with the acquisition, in the lobby.
