Warner Bros Rebooting ‘Fletch’
Warner Bros have pre-emptively picked up the movie rights toGregory McDonald’s 11-bookFletchmystery novel series.Chevy Chaseoriginally played Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher in Michael Ritchie’s 1985 filmFletch, and the 1989 sequelFletch Lives.Heatvisionis reporting that no writer or director has been attached but the studio is “aiming for a reimagining, not a remake, and hope to make an smart action comedy that plays out on a bigger canvas than the previous movies.” Hollywood has been trying to bring Fletch back to the big screen for the last decade.
The Weinstein Co had the rights to develop the mystery novels into a new film, and went through a bunch of script. Years ago, Kevin Smith became attached to a Fletch reboot, but was unable to move forward due to casting disagreements. Smith wanted a pre-My Name is EarlJason Leeto play the iconic role in a prequel based on the bookFletch Won, but Weinstein failed to believe that Lee could be a star. Smith passed on directing the project, and Lee became a star in primetime.
Weinstein then hired Scrubs creatorBill Lawrenceand starZack Braff, who was just coming off the hot indie flickGarden Stateand the popularScrubstelevision series. Smith’s script, which was a closer adaptation of the novels, was dumped in favor of something closer to the tone of the original campy Chevy Chase films. And then laterAccepted/Hot Tub Time MachinedirectorSteve PinkandDawsons CreekstarJoshua Jacksonentered the mix. Pink’s most recent screenplay involved a semi-returned Fletch passing the torch to his journalist nephew, and advising him on his stories. Chase, not-so-coincidently featured in Hot Tub Time Machine, was actually considering reprising the role.
