Nordling here, pining for the fjords...
I'm sure many of you will feel the same way I do about this news but Warner Brothers and Joel Silver are going to bring back Murtaugh and Riggs for another LETHAL WEAPON film, except this time, it's a reboot. Which means new actors, same story... at this point it's too early to see what direction this will go, but so far, it looks like it'll be without the original Danny Glover and Mel Gibson.
According to Deadline, WB and Silver have hired Will Beall to write the new script, and although details are in short supply Beall's written a film going into production with Ruben Fleischer (ZOMBIELAND) directing called GANGSTER SQUAD, and apparently that script's gone over well with Silver and the Warners brass. So it looks like a reboot of our favorite cop partners.
Look, I understand why it's probably not logical to get back Glover and Gibson, especially with Gibson's recent troubles - it's just too big a box office risk for this franchise to endure. But I don't think a reboot is necessary, either. Just kill 'em off. Have Murtaugh and Riggs die in a massive shootout and have the two new partners investigate it. But apparently the characters still have some resonance with the moviegoing public and so a reboot it is. Who's going to bet that Riggs is a Iraq war veteran burnout? They're already throwing around names like Jeremy Renner for Riggs at Heat Vision so how much of a stretch would it be for Renner to basically reprise his HURT LOCKER role under another character name?
Oh well, like a certain esteemed person said once, "They fuck you at the drive thru."
Nordling, out.
