“Lethal Weapon” Reboot in the Works

“Lethal Weapon” Reboot in the Works

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

Murtaugh and Riggs are coming back! Well, sort of. Hollywood has seen fit to plan a reboot of the “Lethal Weapon” series. In retrospect, we probably should have seen this coming.

Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has hired screenwriter Will Beall—who recently attracted the attention of executives with his crime script “Gangster Squad”—to pen a screenplay starting the franchise from scratch. The studio had previously been attempting to get a fifth installment in the series off the ground, but ahem, “circumstances” (i.e., Mel Gibson going insane) forced them to go the reboot route instead.

Beall is an interesting choice as far as writing duties go. Word is he’s talented, but he is also a former cop himself, so we would imagine that his take on the crime genre would be more akin to the kind of sensitive, socially-conscious depictions of urban decay that we got from David Simon during the run of “The Wire.”

But from what we’re hearing, Beall is turning in a draft that stays true to the roots of the franchise. That means keeping the movie fun while not toning it down for a PG-13 rating. Recently studios have been trying too hard to avoid the R rating, so we must admit that we’re pleased with the decision to keep the edge there.

Whether or not anyone will be interested in a “Lethal Weapon” reboot remains to be seen. It never was as popular as similar series, like “Die Hard,” but it is an icon of the buddy-cop genre, so maybe some viewers will be curious to see how the film turns out.