It appears that the reboot of “The Cannonball Run” has found itself in the hands of director Doug Liman, Deadline reports. A versatile filmmaker, Liman has been a staple of independent and big-budget cinema for the past 25 years, having directed such films as “Swingers,” “The Bourne Identity,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” and most recently, “American Made.”
It’s been somewhat of a winding road, pun intended, finding the right talent to bring this franchise back to life. Last year, Rawson Marshall Thurber (“Dodgeball,” “Skyscraper“) was slated to direct the reboot from a script by the “Night at the Museum” screenwriters Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant. Recently, Thurber announced that he is reuniting with his “Skyscraper” star Dwayne Johnson for the action film “Red Card,” leaving a vacancy for another director to take over. Perhaps Liman will bring a new spin on the film, as Thurber’s vision was for ‘Cannonball’ to be ‘Fast and Furious‘ meets “Ocean’s 11.”
For those not familiar with the concept behind ‘Cannonball Run,’ it’s simple. A group of racers drives across the country, hilarity ensues. The films are known for their all-star casts, which included Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Adrienne Barbeau, and Jackie Chan. The first ‘Cannonball Run’ amassed $72.1 million at the domestic box office and was quickly followed by a less successful sequel.
Warner Bros. production executives Jesse Ehrman and Paul Perez have been behind the “Cannonball Run” remake since it was first announced, and Lennon and Garant are staying attached to the project, with a third screenwriter yet to be announced. The original “Cannonball” producer Andre Morgan and “Vikings” producer Alan Gasmer will produce “The Cannonball Run.”
There’s no release date set for ‘Cannonball Run,’ but don’t expect it anytime soon. Liman is deep into post-production on his latest film, the YA thriller “Chaos Walking,” and has a variety of projects in various states of pre-production, including the “Edge of Tomorrow” sequel, that may or may not be coming soon.
