As Paul Feig’s remake of Ghostbusters readies its theatrical premiere next month, another celebrated 1980s comedy may getting a big screen redo. Powerhouse producer Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind) teased, if somewhat cryptically, that he’s in the process of remaking the comedy Splash, albeit with a “twist.” What that may be, well, Grazer is keeping that under lock and key.
Grazer spilled the beans on a remake in the works of the classic Tom Hanks-Daryl Hannah mermaid romantic comedy while talking to CNBC. He said:
I’m actually doing Splash, and I can’t say [anything more]. I’m actually going to do it from the point-of-view of…I can’t say anything about it. There’s a movie star that’s going to be involved, [but] I haven’t announced it.
That’s clearly not a lot to go on but Splash, which opened 32-years ago and proved a breakout for both Hanks and Hannah, was a pretty big deal once upon a time. The charming story, directed by Ron Howard (the movie further cemented his stature) from an Oscar nominated screenplay by Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Bruce Jay Friedman from a story by Grazer himself, focused on the budding romance of a young man and a mermaid named Madison. The film made nearly $70 million at the box office (things were different back then; the movie ranked as the 10th highest grossing title of 1984).
We shall stay tuned to the latest on this and wish them luck for attempting to replicate the chemistry displayed by Hanks and Hannah.