A League of Their Own is something of a Hollywood success story; back in 1992, a dramatization centered on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), an women’s professional baseball league that existed in the United States from 1943 until 1954, wasn’t exactly vying for the top spot of “most wanted” in the minds of producers.
Fast forward to now, however and it remains fondly remembered as both a critical and commercial success from Golden Globe-nominated director Penny Marshall, as well as the film that, according to Tom Hanks, jumpstarted his career.
And the historical sports drama film’s legacy is far from over, with Amazon teed up to distribute a brand new television series of the same name, telling all-new stories born out of the heart of the AAGPBL.
But not everyone will be tuning in to the series, and that includes Lowell Ganz, who penned the screenplay of the original film, and who explained the complicated feelings he had towards the news of the reboot to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’m not speaking from a place of resentment. I’m just speaking from a place of, I doubt that I will watch it because it will feel too strange to me. I can’t imagine that I will enjoy the experience. I didn’t watch the Parenthood series either, and I’m sure it was very good because everybody said it was very good. But [to me,] those characters are mine.”
In an industry that has a curious relationship with reboots and remakes, A League of Their Own appears to be one of the more welcome reboots we’ve been teased with; appearing to capture the ethos of the original film and the organization that it’s based on, but also careful to not do the same things the film did, however successful it was. Plus, the television series format opens up a new paradigm for these stories that the film would not have been able to explore.
A League of Their Own releases to Amazon Prime Video on August 12.
