With the advent of Disney Plus, the Mouse House has a whole new outlet for their never-ending production line of remakes. We already know that the likes of a Home Alone reboot and a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequel are on the way, and this week we’re hearing from our sources – the same ones who said that both an Aladdin follow-up and Ace Ventura 3 are in development, which we now know to be true – that The Parent Trap is among the other properties that the studio wants to reimagine for the streaming service.
The original Parent Trap released in 1961, but the version modern audiences will be familiar with is the 1998 remake, which starred Lindsey Lohan in a dual role. It seems it’s the success of this one, in particular, that Disney is hoping to ape for this second remake as We Got This Covered has heard that one key figure could be brought back from that movie. Namely, director Nancy Meyers. Sources say Disney is hoping to get the veteran comedy filmmaker on board again, though it’s unclear at this time if she’s been approached or would even be interested.
If you’ve never seen either version, The Parent Trap follows estranged twins – one British, one American – who accidentally meet at summer camp and hatch a plan to swap lives in a bid to get their divorced parents to get back together. Hayley Mills played the twins in the ’61 flick, with the ’98 one providing Lohan’s big break. Dennis Quaid and the late Natasha Richardson also co-starred in the latter as the duo’s parents.
If Meyer does end up returning to helm a new Parent Trap, that would mark the second time in recent memory that Disney has lured back an original director to head up a new entry in a franchise for them. Shrunk – the aforementioned Honey… sequel – will be directed by Joe Johnston, who made the 1989 family classic, so the studio is clearly thinking that rehiring a filmmaker who already knows the property inside-out is the best play here.
In any case, The Parent Trap does seem to get remade every three decades or so, so I guess it’s about time for a new one. And seeing as this Disney Plus venture is likely only in the earliest stages of development right now, we don’t know how soon it may arrive. However, we have heard it could enter production in 2020 and given that this intel comes to us from the same sources who also said Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk shows were heading to the streaming site, we have every reason to trust it.
