‘White Men Can’t Jump’ Is Getting a Remake

Now that pretty much every theatrical movie is about superheroes or aliens it might sound crazy, but in the late ’80s and early ’90s there was a thriving genre of movie sports comedies. Major League, Bull Durham, Happy Gilmore, The Mighty Ducks, Cool Runnings, and of course White Men Can’t Jump, Ron Shelton’s film about two street basketball player, played by Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. The film did well in theaters and then played approximately 14 million times on cable, becoming a classic of the era.

You know how this story ends, right? Yup, with a remake. A new White Men Can’t Jump has been discussed for several years — there were reports about work on a screenplay back in 2017 — but now the film is moving ahead with a new director. Per Deadline, Calmatic will direct the film, fresh off directing another remake of an old favorite, the Kid ’n Play comedy House Party.

They have no details on the story, or whether there will be any connections made to the original characters (for the record, they were Wesley Snipes’ Syd, Woody Harrelson’s Billy Hoyle, and Rose Perez’ Gloria). Deadline does say “how this story line will be updated is unknown, but is expected to follow the same idea as the original.” The script for the movie is by black-ish creator Kenya Barris and Doug Hall.

While some of the ideas (and definitely all of the fashion) in White Men Can’t Jump were very much rooted in the early ’90s, there’s nothing about the story that couldn’t work in a modern context. Most of the movie’s success was probably due to the excellent chemistry between the three lead actors, so if you get a good cast, it could still be a winner in 2022.

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