One cannot understate the strange cultural dominance Hugh Wilson's 1984 comedy "Police Academy" held over the pop zeitgeist throughout the 1980s. Clearly a child of "Animal House," "Police Academy" was a traditional snobs-vs.-slobs comedy that pitted winking wiseacres against their stern commanding officers at a police school in an unnamed city. I've long had a theory that the "Police Academy" movies take place in Metropolis, the city where Superman lives. With Superman taking care of major crimes, the local police force would likely become complacent, unused to enforcing the law.
None of the "Police Academy" movies were well-reviewed, recognized by critics as crass, dumb, and low-brow. This is a series that banks on misogyny, offensive stereotypes, and a lot of crotch/sex humor. There is no wit to the "Police Academy" movies. Roger Ebert famously gave the first film zero stars, citing merely how dreadfully unfunny and uninspired it is.
None of the "Police Academy" movies were well-reviewed, recognized by critics as crass, dumb, and low-brow. This is a series that banks on misogyny, offensive stereotypes, and a lot of crotch/sex humor. There is no wit to the "Police Academy" movies. Roger Ebert famously gave the first film zero stars, citing merely how dreadfully unfunny and uninspired it is.
- 2/10/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Shout Factory announced today that they will be releasing The Police Academy Collection, a Blu-ray set that will feature all seven movies in the comedy series. The set will be available on November 21st.
The first movie in the Police Academy franchise kicked off the premise when a newly elected mayor announced a policy that required the police department to accept all willing recruits. This leads to a group of misfits attempting to prove themselves as police officers, and naturally, hilarity ensues. Steve Guttenberg starred as Carey Mahoney in the first four movies.
Here’s the list of Police Academy movies included in Shout Factory’s Blu-ray collection:
Police Academy (1984) Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985) Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986) Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987) Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988) Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (1989) Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994)
The only actors who...
The first movie in the Police Academy franchise kicked off the premise when a newly elected mayor announced a policy that required the police department to accept all willing recruits. This leads to a group of misfits attempting to prove themselves as police officers, and naturally, hilarity ensues. Steve Guttenberg starred as Carey Mahoney in the first four movies.
Here’s the list of Police Academy movies included in Shout Factory’s Blu-ray collection:
Police Academy (1984) Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985) Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986) Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987) Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988) Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (1989) Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994)
The only actors who...
- 9/5/2023
- by Kevin Fraser
- JoBlo.com
Some franchises just never know when to call it day; the latest franchise that could possibly have its 8th movie on the horizon is Police Academy according to Officer Mahoney, Steve Guttenberg.
In a conversation with a die-hard fan of the franchise on Twitter, Guttenberg stated another is on its way after being asked by the fan to make one in London.
Guttenberg tweeted “Adam, the next Police Academy is coming, no details yet, but it is in a gift bag being readied!”
Adam , the next Police Academy is coming, no details yet, but it is in a gift bag being readied! https://t.co/HxzdmqS6WP
— Steve Guttenberg (@SteveGuttbuck) September 3, 2018
With no details readily available this could all be just talk.
The Police Academy zany comedy franchise first burst onto the big screens in 1984. Directed by Hugh Wilson, and it starred Steve Guttenberg as Cadet Carey Mahoney, Kim Cattrall as Cadet Karen Thompson,...
In a conversation with a die-hard fan of the franchise on Twitter, Guttenberg stated another is on its way after being asked by the fan to make one in London.
Guttenberg tweeted “Adam, the next Police Academy is coming, no details yet, but it is in a gift bag being readied!”
Adam , the next Police Academy is coming, no details yet, but it is in a gift bag being readied! https://t.co/HxzdmqS6WP
— Steve Guttenberg (@SteveGuttbuck) September 3, 2018
With no details readily available this could all be just talk.
The Police Academy zany comedy franchise first burst onto the big screens in 1984. Directed by Hugh Wilson, and it starred Steve Guttenberg as Cadet Carey Mahoney, Kim Cattrall as Cadet Karen Thompson,...
- 9/4/2018
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Simon Brew Jun 20, 2017
Steve Guttenberg headlines what's supposed to be a reunion of the Police Academy cast. Life doesn't always work out as promised, though...
To the nearest $1m, the final Police Academy movie – Police Academy: Mission To Moscow – took a tidy $1m at the box office. It brought to a tragic end a movie franchise that had delighted surely a few people in its latter years, and certain given the office photocopiers a workout, as jokes were religiously recycled en masse. The Hangover series would put a better gloss on the recycling jokes schtick, and repeat the trick across its sequels many years later, to better commercial return.
See related Dunkirk: where you can see the IMAX preview in the UK Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk: filming started, cast confirmed Dunkirk: set video shows scale of Christopher Nolan’s new film
See also: What went wrong with Police Academy: Mission To Moscow.
Police Academy producer Paul Maslansky – who also tried to turn Ski Patrol into a series, foiled by the fact that barely anyone went to see the first and only one – has talked about rebooting Police Academy since. Most of the original cast are still with us, too, save for the brilliant David Graf (Tackleberry), Bubba Smith (Hightower), and George Gaynes (Commandant Lassard). Basically, a chunk of the core ensemble are available, and have been waiting for the call to return for a fresh Police Academy adventure. But the call, unfortunately, never came.
Hence, Lavalantula.
This is a film that centres on Steve Guttenberg, a washed-up movie star of the 90s who’s taken on a bug movie for $10,000. Going by the name of Colton West, we learn that he’s been the star of such movie franchises as Crazy Cops and Red Robot, and I know even typing this that nobody really cares. Instead, you’ve been drawn to this film for the same reason I was: it’s the cast of the Police Academy movies, just in a sort-of-horror film. Asda – and other supermarkets selling DVDs are available – had this next to Star Wars: Rogue One in my local store. One coin toss later, and Rogue One could wait.
It turns out, of course, that it’s a dose of trash that’s been doing the rounds for a little while. Spun out of the Sharknado series, Lavalantula was first shown on Syfy in the Us back in 2015, and I’ve barely found mention of it since. That notwithstanding, I armed myself with some of those new strawberry and vanilla Calippos (6/10 from me for them), and settled in.
Purveyors of The Asylum and Syfy attempts to recreate the feel of B-movies will know what they’re getting here. A perfunctory bit of plot, to get to some special effects that have been produced with second hand computers bought off Ilm. That’s less snooty than it sounds, mind. Lavalantula, a word that only seven of the 49 human beings who have ever tried managed to pronounce correctly the first time, is a solid audit as to what $20,000 or so’s worth of effects can buy you. Some lava and half-decent spiders is the answer. Given that London Has Fallen, for one, cost $105m to make and had effects that looked like Call Of Duty a generation back, Lavathingy does offer a decent recent in that sense. Don’t get carried away and start giving it awards or anything, though.
Thing is, it’s easy to look down on micro budget stuff like this. Yet who knows where the next big filmmaker is going to come from? Jennifer Yuh Nelson cut her teeth on the basic animated movies that used to go straight to bargain stores, and now she’s one of the highest grossing female directors of all time, courtesy of the Kung Fu Panda series. The late Jonathan Demme was one of many schooled by the low budget ways of Roger Corman – a model that Jason Blum has expanded on for his Blumhouse outfit, offering filmmakers low budgets in exchange for final cut – and whilst The Asylum has lower ambitions, everyone needs a break, right?
In this case, it’s director Mike Mendez, who worked on the likes of NCIS and CSI before giving the world Big Ass Spider! Here, he knows the trade off is he has to shoot lots of explanatory conversation scenes to stretch the budget (he does throw in a Raiders Of The Lost Ark boulder-rip-off at one moment, though, as well as a just on the right side of legal Pirates Of The Caribbean homage), reckoning he has but 10 minutes out of 80 that he can spend on effects. At one stage, he decides to have a man dressed as a spider fight a spider. Sadly, it’s less fun that it sounds.
The other concession to budget is you don’t actually get the cast of Police Academy for very long. This is less forgivable. Sure, you get shirtless Guttenberg stealing a bus, and in his own way giving us his own spin on Last Action Hero. His character also needs to reconnect with his son for reasons that are of no human interest. But everyone else? They’re shuttled in for quick cameos. You get them at the start, and then Winslow and Ramsey finally return an hour later. But by then, they’re plotting how to beat the big spiders, and – presumably fearing legal interest – the references to glories old are all but gone.
I can’t be the only person who put the DVD in to hear Michael Winslow recreate his collection of noises. But we get, what, five minutes with him in all? It’s like a Police Academy reunion where everyone but Steve Guttenberg got given the wrong time. There’s the odd concession and acknowledgement of the series elsewhere in the film - “they took out the Blue Oyster. I loved that place,” says pretend Captain Jack Sparrow (really) at one stage – but for Ramsey, Leslie Easterbrook and Winslow, the DVD packaging may as well provide you with a spotter book, so you can at least tick ‘em off once you see them.
Still, Ralph Garman is good fun here as the aforementioned Jack Sparrow knock-off, and 24 fans who wonder just what happened to that fella who played Tony Almeida Isn’t Dead Really will get their answer, as Carlos Bernard duly picks up his cheque. 24: Legacy couldn’t come along quickly enough, though.
On the plus side too, there’s little question that everyone’s in on the gag.
But when you yearn for the film to at least have an equitable number of laughs as a Police Academy sequel, it’d be fair to say a little alarm has long been going off. By the time the film is directly mirroring and quoting a moment from Jurassic Park, that old adage of invoke the memory of other, better films at your peril has long been proved.
The cheapest moment, incidentally, and this is a competitive contest, is the Basil Exposition-type Doctor/Professor/scientist character, clambering into a helicopter with the full chopper sound effect going. Only for the camera to leave the fact that the rotors aren’t turning fully in shot.
Yet I think I still want that horror movie with the Police Academy cast that I was sold. In fact, what I think what I’d like to see now is a big screen version of the PlayStation 4 game Until Dawn, but with Police Academy characters, to bring a bit of a choose your own adventure element to the fun. Plus, then you get to replay it, changing just a few plot elements next time you play, accurately reflecting one of the core components of the Police Academy business plan.
Guttenberg has since followed this up with a sequel, 2 Lava 2 Tarantula, where only two Police Academy alumni joined him. Another film is coming. But Lavalantula: Tokyo Drift is surely just a meeting and a beermat’s worth of plot away, where all of his co-stars will have deserted him, ready to rejoin him for the fourth film in the series. That’s how this stuff work, right? And then Statham will turn up two films later? Right?
Right?...
Steve Guttenberg headlines what's supposed to be a reunion of the Police Academy cast. Life doesn't always work out as promised, though...
To the nearest $1m, the final Police Academy movie – Police Academy: Mission To Moscow – took a tidy $1m at the box office. It brought to a tragic end a movie franchise that had delighted surely a few people in its latter years, and certain given the office photocopiers a workout, as jokes were religiously recycled en masse. The Hangover series would put a better gloss on the recycling jokes schtick, and repeat the trick across its sequels many years later, to better commercial return.
See related Dunkirk: where you can see the IMAX preview in the UK Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk: filming started, cast confirmed Dunkirk: set video shows scale of Christopher Nolan’s new film
See also: What went wrong with Police Academy: Mission To Moscow.
Police Academy producer Paul Maslansky – who also tried to turn Ski Patrol into a series, foiled by the fact that barely anyone went to see the first and only one – has talked about rebooting Police Academy since. Most of the original cast are still with us, too, save for the brilliant David Graf (Tackleberry), Bubba Smith (Hightower), and George Gaynes (Commandant Lassard). Basically, a chunk of the core ensemble are available, and have been waiting for the call to return for a fresh Police Academy adventure. But the call, unfortunately, never came.
Hence, Lavalantula.
This is a film that centres on Steve Guttenberg, a washed-up movie star of the 90s who’s taken on a bug movie for $10,000. Going by the name of Colton West, we learn that he’s been the star of such movie franchises as Crazy Cops and Red Robot, and I know even typing this that nobody really cares. Instead, you’ve been drawn to this film for the same reason I was: it’s the cast of the Police Academy movies, just in a sort-of-horror film. Asda – and other supermarkets selling DVDs are available – had this next to Star Wars: Rogue One in my local store. One coin toss later, and Rogue One could wait.
It turns out, of course, that it’s a dose of trash that’s been doing the rounds for a little while. Spun out of the Sharknado series, Lavalantula was first shown on Syfy in the Us back in 2015, and I’ve barely found mention of it since. That notwithstanding, I armed myself with some of those new strawberry and vanilla Calippos (6/10 from me for them), and settled in.
Purveyors of The Asylum and Syfy attempts to recreate the feel of B-movies will know what they’re getting here. A perfunctory bit of plot, to get to some special effects that have been produced with second hand computers bought off Ilm. That’s less snooty than it sounds, mind. Lavalantula, a word that only seven of the 49 human beings who have ever tried managed to pronounce correctly the first time, is a solid audit as to what $20,000 or so’s worth of effects can buy you. Some lava and half-decent spiders is the answer. Given that London Has Fallen, for one, cost $105m to make and had effects that looked like Call Of Duty a generation back, Lavathingy does offer a decent recent in that sense. Don’t get carried away and start giving it awards or anything, though.
Thing is, it’s easy to look down on micro budget stuff like this. Yet who knows where the next big filmmaker is going to come from? Jennifer Yuh Nelson cut her teeth on the basic animated movies that used to go straight to bargain stores, and now she’s one of the highest grossing female directors of all time, courtesy of the Kung Fu Panda series. The late Jonathan Demme was one of many schooled by the low budget ways of Roger Corman – a model that Jason Blum has expanded on for his Blumhouse outfit, offering filmmakers low budgets in exchange for final cut – and whilst The Asylum has lower ambitions, everyone needs a break, right?
In this case, it’s director Mike Mendez, who worked on the likes of NCIS and CSI before giving the world Big Ass Spider! Here, he knows the trade off is he has to shoot lots of explanatory conversation scenes to stretch the budget (he does throw in a Raiders Of The Lost Ark boulder-rip-off at one moment, though, as well as a just on the right side of legal Pirates Of The Caribbean homage), reckoning he has but 10 minutes out of 80 that he can spend on effects. At one stage, he decides to have a man dressed as a spider fight a spider. Sadly, it’s less fun that it sounds.
The other concession to budget is you don’t actually get the cast of Police Academy for very long. This is less forgivable. Sure, you get shirtless Guttenberg stealing a bus, and in his own way giving us his own spin on Last Action Hero. His character also needs to reconnect with his son for reasons that are of no human interest. But everyone else? They’re shuttled in for quick cameos. You get them at the start, and then Winslow and Ramsey finally return an hour later. But by then, they’re plotting how to beat the big spiders, and – presumably fearing legal interest – the references to glories old are all but gone.
I can’t be the only person who put the DVD in to hear Michael Winslow recreate his collection of noises. But we get, what, five minutes with him in all? It’s like a Police Academy reunion where everyone but Steve Guttenberg got given the wrong time. There’s the odd concession and acknowledgement of the series elsewhere in the film - “they took out the Blue Oyster. I loved that place,” says pretend Captain Jack Sparrow (really) at one stage – but for Ramsey, Leslie Easterbrook and Winslow, the DVD packaging may as well provide you with a spotter book, so you can at least tick ‘em off once you see them.
Still, Ralph Garman is good fun here as the aforementioned Jack Sparrow knock-off, and 24 fans who wonder just what happened to that fella who played Tony Almeida Isn’t Dead Really will get their answer, as Carlos Bernard duly picks up his cheque. 24: Legacy couldn’t come along quickly enough, though.
On the plus side too, there’s little question that everyone’s in on the gag.
But when you yearn for the film to at least have an equitable number of laughs as a Police Academy sequel, it’d be fair to say a little alarm has long been going off. By the time the film is directly mirroring and quoting a moment from Jurassic Park, that old adage of invoke the memory of other, better films at your peril has long been proved.
The cheapest moment, incidentally, and this is a competitive contest, is the Basil Exposition-type Doctor/Professor/scientist character, clambering into a helicopter with the full chopper sound effect going. Only for the camera to leave the fact that the rotors aren’t turning fully in shot.
Yet I think I still want that horror movie with the Police Academy cast that I was sold. In fact, what I think what I’d like to see now is a big screen version of the PlayStation 4 game Until Dawn, but with Police Academy characters, to bring a bit of a choose your own adventure element to the fun. Plus, then you get to replay it, changing just a few plot elements next time you play, accurately reflecting one of the core components of the Police Academy business plan.
Guttenberg has since followed this up with a sequel, 2 Lava 2 Tarantula, where only two Police Academy alumni joined him. Another film is coming. But Lavalantula: Tokyo Drift is surely just a meeting and a beermat’s worth of plot away, where all of his co-stars will have deserted him, ready to rejoin him for the fourth film in the series. That’s how this stuff work, right? And then Statham will turn up two films later? Right?
Right?...
- 5/10/2017
- Den of Geek
Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 24 Oct 2013 - 06:46
Another 25 unsung greats come under the spotlight, as we provide our pick of the underappreciated films of 1995...
The year covered in this week's underrated movie rundown was significant for a number of reasons. It was the year that saw the release of Toy Story - the groundbreaking movie that would cement Pixar's reputation as an animation studio, and set the tempo for CG family movies for the next 18 years and counting. It was the year that saw James Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan for the first time) emerge for GoldenEye after a six-year break. It was also the year of Michael Mann's Heat, Dogme 95, and the moment where Terry Gilliam scored a much-deserved hit with 12 Monkeys.
As ever, we're focusing on a few of the lesser-known films from this particular year, and we've had to think carefully about what's made the cut and what hasn't.
Another 25 unsung greats come under the spotlight, as we provide our pick of the underappreciated films of 1995...
The year covered in this week's underrated movie rundown was significant for a number of reasons. It was the year that saw the release of Toy Story - the groundbreaking movie that would cement Pixar's reputation as an animation studio, and set the tempo for CG family movies for the next 18 years and counting. It was the year that saw James Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan for the first time) emerge for GoldenEye after a six-year break. It was also the year of Michael Mann's Heat, Dogme 95, and the moment where Terry Gilliam scored a much-deserved hit with 12 Monkeys.
As ever, we're focusing on a few of the lesser-known films from this particular year, and we've had to think carefully about what's made the cut and what hasn't.
- 10/22/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Odd List Simon Brew 20 Sep 2013 - 07:14
They don't make funny movies any more, right? Wrong. If you're looking for a laugh, then here are some you may have missed...
For this list, blame The Hangover Part III. It was whilst walking out of that film that I got into a chat with someone, who was bemoaning the lack of genuinely funny movie comedies. Certainly, big budget Hollywood comedies have no end of problems right now - with the occasional exception - but I couldn't help thinking of the many neglected gems that had gone through my DVD player over the past decade or so.
As such, I started to put this list together. It's inevitably subjective, as one person's comedy is another person's snore fest. But I've tried to dig out a mix of comedies from the past three decades that have either flown under the radar completely, or...
They don't make funny movies any more, right? Wrong. If you're looking for a laugh, then here are some you may have missed...
For this list, blame The Hangover Part III. It was whilst walking out of that film that I got into a chat with someone, who was bemoaning the lack of genuinely funny movie comedies. Certainly, big budget Hollywood comedies have no end of problems right now - with the occasional exception - but I couldn't help thinking of the many neglected gems that had gone through my DVD player over the past decade or so.
As such, I started to put this list together. It's inevitably subjective, as one person's comedy is another person's snore fest. But I've tried to dig out a mix of comedies from the past three decades that have either flown under the radar completely, or...
- 9/19/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Reports are doing the rounds that Jeremy Garelick is on board to do the screenwriting for the reboot which is dividing alot of opinion; Police Academy. his duties will involve re writes on the majority of the scripts which have been recently drafted by David Diamond and David Weissman. Scott Zabielskii will be directing in what will be his feature film debut. The original franchise of the hit comedy starred Steve Guttenberg, G.W. Bailey, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Marion Ramsey, Michael Winslow. Along the way future stars such as Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone featured as the love interests for Guttenberg. Don’t know about you guys but I’m not looking forward to the reboot, let us know what you think….. Via Comingsoon.net...
- 6/5/2012
- by noreply@blogger.com (gercooney)
- www.themoviebit.com
The Break-Up screenwriter Jeremy Garelick has been brought aboard New Line's reboot of the Police Academy franchise, Deadline reports. He'll perform rewrites on the current script, most recently drafted by David Diamond and David Weissman. Scott Zabielski, best known for producing and directing episodes of "Tosh.0," will be making his feature film debut as the project's director. The original seven-film comedy series starred actors such Steve Guttenberg, G.W. Bailey, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Marion Ramsey, Michael Winslow, Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone and detailed the comical misadventures of police training.
- 6/5/2012
- Comingsoon.net
A new director, a November shoot, and Shaquille O'Neal as Hightower? Michael Winslow has just given a big update on the plans for the new Police Academy...
We’re indebted to Den Of Geek reader Nicholas Higton for this one. Michael Winslow, the one-man noise machine from the Police Academy movies, is currently in the UK promoting his one man tour. And he appeared on TalkSport radio, specifically the Hawksbee and Jacobs show, yesterday afternoon.
While on the show, he was asked what the current status of the long-mooted new Police Academy movie was. Turns out, he had quite an update.
Asked whether the plan was to get the old team back together, Winslow admitted he’d spoken to Steve Guttenberg about this, and that the plans was “to try and get as many people as possible” back for the new film.
Then, Winslow noted that two major members of...
We’re indebted to Den Of Geek reader Nicholas Higton for this one. Michael Winslow, the one-man noise machine from the Police Academy movies, is currently in the UK promoting his one man tour. And he appeared on TalkSport radio, specifically the Hawksbee and Jacobs show, yesterday afternoon.
While on the show, he was asked what the current status of the long-mooted new Police Academy movie was. Turns out, he had quite an update.
Asked whether the plan was to get the old team back together, Winslow admitted he’d spoken to Steve Guttenberg about this, and that the plans was “to try and get as many people as possible” back for the new film.
Then, Winslow noted that two major members of...
- 3/21/2012
- Den of Geek
New Line are pushing forward with their reboot of the Police Academy franchise with the hiring of rookie filmmaker Scott Zabielski to direct a remake. Zabielski is best known for his work producing and directing episodes of the Comedy Central show “Tosh.0,” but will be making his feature film debut with the remake.
Released by Warner Bros (who now own New Line) in 1984, Police Academy was an outrageous comedy about a bunch of well to do but incompetent and unqualified misfits who are recruited due to a police shortage in an unnamed American city. The film starred Steve Guttenberg, G.W. Bailey, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Marion Ramsey, Michael Winslow, Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone.
Grossing $146 million worldwide, the success of the film spawned a seven film franchise. Warner Bros have been looking at cheap to produce films that can ignite franchises in the wake of the highly lucrative...
Released by Warner Bros (who now own New Line) in 1984, Police Academy was an outrageous comedy about a bunch of well to do but incompetent and unqualified misfits who are recruited due to a police shortage in an unnamed American city. The film starred Steve Guttenberg, G.W. Bailey, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Marion Ramsey, Michael Winslow, Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone.
Grossing $146 million worldwide, the success of the film spawned a seven film franchise. Warner Bros have been looking at cheap to produce films that can ignite franchises in the wake of the highly lucrative...
- 1/10/2012
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
Studio New Line confirms Scott Zabielski is to take charge of the 8th instalment of the love-it-or-hate-it rookie cops franchise
You might think that seven Police Academy films were more than enough, but somebody in Hollywood disagrees with you. Studio New Line has hired first-time director Scott Zabielski, a part-time reserve police officer in west Hollywood, to take charge of a new film which will aim to reboot the long-running and much-maligned comedy series.
There has been speculation for some time that a new Police Academy film – the first since 1994's ill-fated Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow – was in the works. The series made a total of $242m at the worldwide box office and also spawned two TV series. Original producer Paul Maslansky, who is on board for the new iteration, said in 2010 that he hoped to return the series to the big screen with an entirely new cast.
You might think that seven Police Academy films were more than enough, but somebody in Hollywood disagrees with you. Studio New Line has hired first-time director Scott Zabielski, a part-time reserve police officer in west Hollywood, to take charge of a new film which will aim to reboot the long-running and much-maligned comedy series.
There has been speculation for some time that a new Police Academy film – the first since 1994's ill-fated Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow – was in the works. The series made a total of $242m at the worldwide box office and also spawned two TV series. Original producer Paul Maslansky, who is on board for the new iteration, said in 2010 that he hoped to return the series to the big screen with an entirely new cast.
- 1/10/2012
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
New Line is moving forward with their planned remake of Police Academy and have placed Scott Zabielski at the helm. Known for producing and directing episodes of "Tosh.0," Zabielski will be making his feature film debut. The original seven-film comedy series starred actors such Steve Guttenberg, G.W. Bailey, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Marion Ramsey, Michael Winslow, Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone and detailed the comical misadventures of police training. Bizarrely, one bit of Zabielski's resume that seems to have helped him get the gig is the fact that he has actually trained in law enforcement and works to this day as a West Hollywood reserve officer.
- 1/9/2012
- Comingsoon.net
New Line will reboot the "Police Academy" franchise with original producer Paul Maslansky returning. According to The Hollywood Reporter, there is no writer or director attached yet."Academy" was a seven-film comedy series from Warner Bros. that revolved around the premise of a new mayor announcing a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits. The series followed a group of misfit recruits in their attempts to prove themselves capable of being police officers.The first film, "Police Academy," was released in 1984 and starred Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, Bubba Smith, David Graf, George Gaynes and Michael Winslow. The series ended with 1994's "Mission to Moscow." The franchise took in about $240 million worldwide and inspired a pair of TV...
- 3/6/2010
- by Adnan Tezer
- Monsters and Critics
Looks like Hollywood is ready to dust off another old series and give it a fresh makeover. This time the're taking in new recruits for a reboot of Police Academy, the original 1984 comedy with Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney and a cast of other screwballs like Michael Winslow and Bubba Smith.The original Police Academy is a goofy, fun movie. I'm not sure I need to see a remake of it starring today's "hot" young talent. More from THR:New Line is looking for recruits for a relaunched "Police Academy" movie. Original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which has no writer or director attached. "Academy" was a seven-film lowbrow comedy series from Warner Bros. that saw a city throw open the doors of its police force to any recruit, much to the chagrin of its serious officers. The misfit officers band together and, of course, save the city.
- 3/6/2010
- LRMonline.com
New Line Cinema wants to make a new "Police Academy" movie! Like other franchises ran to the ground because of multiple sequels, the solution to reinvigorate a tired property is to make a reboot aka remake the darn thing!
The Hollywood Reporter is saying that original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which has no writer or director attached.
The first film released in 1984 starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who becomes the group's leader when he enters the academy. We also met other characters such as Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), Tackleberry (David Graf), Hooks (Marion Ramsey), and my favorite, Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow), the sound effects, beat boxing dude.
Other notables: Bobcat Goldthwait joined for the second film released in 1985, and both hot blondes, Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone, were recruited as romantic leads. The last "Police Academy" film was released in 1994 called "Mission to Moscow.
The Hollywood Reporter is saying that original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which has no writer or director attached.
The first film released in 1984 starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who becomes the group's leader when he enters the academy. We also met other characters such as Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), Tackleberry (David Graf), Hooks (Marion Ramsey), and my favorite, Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow), the sound effects, beat boxing dude.
Other notables: Bobcat Goldthwait joined for the second film released in 1985, and both hot blondes, Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone, were recruited as romantic leads. The last "Police Academy" film was released in 1994 called "Mission to Moscow.
- 3/5/2010
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
According to The Hollywood Reporter, New Line has set out to reboot the "Police Academy."
"Academy" was a seven-film lowbrow comedy series from Warner Bros. that saw a city throw open the doors of its police force to any recruit, much to the chagrin of its serious officers. The misfit officers band together and, of course, save the city.
Original producer Paul Maslansky is aboard for the reboot as well.
Maslansky said the following:
"It's going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV. It's going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It'll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we'll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme."
The first film, released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who is forced...
"Academy" was a seven-film lowbrow comedy series from Warner Bros. that saw a city throw open the doors of its police force to any recruit, much to the chagrin of its serious officers. The misfit officers band together and, of course, save the city.
Original producer Paul Maslansky is aboard for the reboot as well.
Maslansky said the following:
"It's going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV. It's going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It'll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we'll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme."
The first film, released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who is forced...
- 3/5/2010
- by amcsts@gmail.com
- AMC - Script to Screen
New Line/Warner Bros. is looking to relaunch "Police Academy" with original producer Paul Maslansky. The new film has no writer or director attached. The seven-film comedy series starred actors such as Steve Guttenberg, G.W. Bailey, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Marion Ramsey, Michael Winslow, Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone. "It's going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV," Maslansky said. "It's going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It'll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we'll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme." A full rundown of the film series can be found here .
- 3/5/2010
- Comingsoon.net
We all love a bit of Police Academy…. don’t we?! 7 films was a bit too much but the first couple were genius. It was new, riske and exciting. The cast which included Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, G.W. Bailey, Bubba Smith, George Gaynes, David Graf and Leslie Easterbrook as Sgt. Callahan, was excellent and the films were so successful that a kids TV cartoon was spawned from it.
THR have interviewed original producer, Paul Maslansky who has said that the movie is going to be given a reboot – heck, why not, everything else is!
“”It’s going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV,” Maslansky said. “It’s going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It’ll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it.
THR have interviewed original producer, Paul Maslansky who has said that the movie is going to be given a reboot – heck, why not, everything else is!
“”It’s going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV,” Maslansky said. “It’s going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It’ll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it.
- 3/5/2010
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
New Line Cinema is looking to reboot the "Police Academy" franchise. Original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which has no writer or director attached. "Academy" was a seven-film lowbrow comedy series from Warner Bros that saw a city throw open the doors of its police force to any recruit, much to the chagrin of its serious officers. The misfit officers band together and, of course, save the city. The first film, released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who is forced to enter the academy and emerges as the group's leader. Other notable characters included Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), gun-crazy Tackleberry (David Graf), mousy Hooks (Marion Ramsey) and sound effects-spewing Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow). Bobcat Goldthwait joined the cast for the second movie in 1985. The series, which included Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone as romantic leads, ended with the 1994's "Mission to Moscow.
- 3/5/2010
- WorstPreviews.com
Original Police Academy producer Paul Maslansky has announced plans to relaunch the comedy series with studio New Line. The franchise kicked off in 1984 with Steve Guttenberg playing a repeat offender who joins the police force. Kim Cattrall also starred in the movie, which introduced characters such as gentle giant Hightower (Bubba Smith), firearms-obsessed Tackleberry (David Graf) and human sound effects machine Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow). Later movies in the seven-film series starred stand-up comic Bobcat Goldthwait, Sharon Stone and Claire Forlani. "It's going to be very worthwhile (more)...
- 3/5/2010
- by By Simon Reynolds
- Digital Spy
New Line Cinema are looking towards the boys in blue for their next hit – with Police Academy squarely in their sights and ripe for remaking. Original “Academy” producer Paul Maslansky is back once again however no writer or director are attached to the project at this point.
Police Academy was a much loved seven series string of movies, beginning with “Police Academy” in 1984, the films followed a bad of unlikely misfits who enroll with the Police force when the cities forces open their doors to virtually anybody – much to the disgust of the existing officers. Starring Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, the original film grossed $81,198,894 on a $4,500,000 budget and was naturally considered financial a success.
Joining Mahoney in his lop-sided quest to clean up the city were Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), mousy Hooks (Marion Ramsey), gun-crazy Tackleberry (David Graf) and of course the one everybody remembers, the human sound box Larvell...
Police Academy was a much loved seven series string of movies, beginning with “Police Academy” in 1984, the films followed a bad of unlikely misfits who enroll with the Police force when the cities forces open their doors to virtually anybody – much to the disgust of the existing officers. Starring Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, the original film grossed $81,198,894 on a $4,500,000 budget and was naturally considered financial a success.
Joining Mahoney in his lop-sided quest to clean up the city were Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), mousy Hooks (Marion Ramsey), gun-crazy Tackleberry (David Graf) and of course the one everybody remembers, the human sound box Larvell...
- 3/5/2010
- by Craig Sharp
- FilmShaft.com
New Line is looking for recruits for a relaunched "Police Academy" movie. Original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which has no writer or director attached.
"Academy" was a seven-film lowbrow comedy series from Warner Bros. that saw a city throw open the doors of its police force to any recruit, much to the chagrin of its serious officers. The misfit officers band together and, of course, save the city.
The first film, released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who is forced to enter the academy and emerges as the group's leader. Other notable characters included Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), gun-crazy Tackleberry (David Graf), mousy Hooks (Marion Ramsey) and sound effects-spewing Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow).
Bobcat Goldthwait joined the cast for the second movie in 1985. The series, which included Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone as romantic leads, ended with the 1994's "Mission to Moscow.
"Academy" was a seven-film lowbrow comedy series from Warner Bros. that saw a city throw open the doors of its police force to any recruit, much to the chagrin of its serious officers. The misfit officers band together and, of course, save the city.
The first film, released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who is forced to enter the academy and emerges as the group's leader. Other notable characters included Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), gun-crazy Tackleberry (David Graf), mousy Hooks (Marion Ramsey) and sound effects-spewing Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow).
Bobcat Goldthwait joined the cast for the second movie in 1985. The series, which included Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone as romantic leads, ended with the 1994's "Mission to Moscow.
- 3/4/2010
- by By Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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