I remember not liking CONDORMAN very much when I saw it. A Disney film from 1981, its OTT, dopey vibe seemed incongruous with the funkier, heavier, sometimes headier tones the studio was establishing with pictures like THE BLACK HOLE and THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS before it (and later SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and TRON) . Those titles were taking chances. CONDORMAN...felt like it was going backwards.
It didn't perform well at the box office upon its initial release, but (evidently) that's not stopping Disney from another go at the property.
Per THIS piece over at MovieHole...
“The idea remains the same”, a House of Mouse insider – albeit one that works in a producing capacity for animation, so hasn’t got a direct line to anyone on this particular production and has admittedly heard this all third hand – told me over Skype this morning. “Wally. A Brit again. Robert Pattinson’s name has been floated, can you see him going for it? He seems to be into more intellectual things?. Still a pompous cartoonist turned superhero type gets to assist in the deflection of a sexy young KGB agent. Emphasis would be more on action this time around though. They want to steer as far off from Johnny English territory as possible. But there’s talk of doing lots with the Condorman brand..."
The Charles Jarrott-directed original starred then future PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Michael Crawford, chewing scenery in the title role and sounding annoyingly like Marjoe Gortner. It also featured Barbara Carrera, over whom much hand party was made in my teen years.
Cue CONDOMMAN jokes in 3...2...1...
