Last summer, it was announced that Will Smith and Kevin Hart were set to team up for a remake of John Hughes’ comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and the reaction to the news was more than a little mixed, to put it lightly.
While the idea of pairing up two A-list stars with proven track records in both the comedy genre and at the box office sounds like a recipe for success if ever there was one, the 1987 original is a stone cold classic with a sizeable reputation, and a lot of fans voiced their opinions that there’s a thousand better ways to team Smith and Hart in any number of projects without having to step on the toes of greatness.
The core concept of a control freak trying to get home for Thanksgiving to see his wife and kids, only to end up on a wild road trip with a motor-mouthed companion that irritates him to no end, is admittedly completely open to a new interpretation, especially when you factor in how much travel and technology has changed in the last 35 years.
However, remaking a movie that’s endured as a holiday favorite and finds itself being re-watched on an annual basis is a much tougher task, but Hart confirmed in a recent interview that the new Planes, Trains and Automobiles is still in active development, although it might not be happening for a while yet.
“Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, we’re trying to figure it out. Will and myself are both interested. Right now, it’s on the table. The world of development is a long one and we know that the IP is there. Everybody was willing to let us get into it, but we got to crack the code on what story is and what the world that we’ll make it in and how we can best make it fit Will and myself. Yes, but it’s, we’re a ways away from it.”
Having proven his dramatic chops in Netflix’s Fatherhood, there’s surely many more interesting opportunities out there for Hart than retreading familiar ground. That being said, it’s been far too long since we’ve seen Smith lend his talents to a broad comic vehicle, but the jury is out on whether Planes, Trains and Automobiles should be that film.
