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‘Shaft’ Reboot in the Works at New Line
February 18, 2015 | 04:51PM PT
Dave McNary @Variety_DMcNary

John Shaft is returning to the bigscreen, with New Line developing a reboot of the iconic police action franchise.

The latest version of “Shaft” has been set up with producer John Davis.

New Line has acquired the remake rights to MGM’s 1971 blaxploitation film, based on Ernest Tidyman’s novel and directed by Gordon Parks. John Shaft was portrayed by Richard Roundtree, who navigates mob neighborhoods in New York City to find the missing daughter of a mobster.

The film was a major success with box office of $13 million on a budget of $500,000. Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft” won the Academy Award for original song. Parks and Roundtree also teamed on “Shaft’s Big Score” in 1972 and “Shaft in Africa” in 1973.

“Shaft” was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2000.

John Singleton directed Paramount’s 2000 reboot, starring Samuel L. Jackson as the nephew of John Shaft. That version was also successful, with $108 million in worldwide grosses.

Davis is a producer on Warner Bros.’ upcoming “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, and Sony’s “Joy,” starring Jennifer Lawrence.

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uly 28, 2015 2:51pm PT by Borys Kit
'Shaft' Getting Remake from 'Black-ish' Creator (Exclusive)

New Line wants to give you the shaft.

The company, which opens the reboot of Vacation on Wednesday, is in development on a reboot of Shaft, the cult Blaxploitation movie from the 1970s.

Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow, an executive producer-writer on ABC’s The Goldbergs, have been tapped to write the script.

John Davis, who is producing the upcoming Man from U.N.C.L.E. reboot and the new take on Frankenstein with Victor Frankenstein, is producing with Ira Napoliello.

The original movie told of a private detective named John Shaft, played by Richard Roundtree, who is hired to find a missing girl in Harlem. The movie was on the leading edge of Blaxploitation, a new genre that seemed to embrace and empower a rising black culture (although some said it only enforced stereotypes). The soundtrack by Isaac Hayes (the theme is one of filmdom’s classics) also contributed to the film’s cult status.

Shaft got a slick and polished 21st century reboot in 2000 when John Singleton directed Samuel L. Jackson, who played the nephew of the character.

This new iteration will have a comedic tone.

Richard Brener and Samuel J. Brown are overseeing for the studio.

Barris’ Black-ish mixes race and comedy as it tells of a black family living in a mostly white upper-class neighborhood. The show’s Anthony Anderson is up for an Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy category.

Barris, repped by CAA, Principato-Young Entertainment and Morris Yorn, also worked on Barbershop 3, currently in production, and has a big-screen version of TV show Good Times in development as well as an untitled girls trip comedy that Will Packer is producing at Universal.

In addition to his work on Goldbergs, Barnow co-created the Matthew Perry comedy Mr. Sunshine and was a staff writer on The Family Guy. He is repped by UTA and Hansen Jacobson.

Barris and Barnow previously teamed up for an untitled comedy about a white guy who begins to hear Ice Cube’s voice in his head, which New Line picked up earlier this spring.

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Dear New Line Cinema (and producer John Davis),

Let me start by saying that I never expected anyone to get in touch with me about the new Shaft movie. Likewise, I don’t have any interest in getting involved with anyone who doesn’t understand or respect Ernest Tidyman’s character, so even if anyone involved in the new movie got in touch with me, it probably wouldn’t go well. As it is, with the recent announcement that the creator of Black-ish has been hired, and that a comedic approach is going to be taken, it is clear to me that New Line is more interested in shitting the bed, than making a good Shaft movie.

When I first reached out the Chris Clark-Tidyman, the widow of Shaft creator Ernest Tidyman, it was because I wanted to see a character that I grew up with, translated into the world of comics. It was important to me to do justice to Tidyman’s creation, and to the character itself. At the risk of bragging, I did just that. I dropped the fuckin’ mic with the award-winning Shaft comic book, and with all humility, I did a pretty solid job on the novel Shaft’s Revenge—the first Shaft novel since Tidyman’s The Last Shaft, published back in 1975. All of this is my way of saying that I care about the character, I understand the character, and as anyone who has read my contribution to the legacy of character can tell you, I got that shit right. So, please, listen to me when I say, “Don’t make this a comedy. It will suck. It won’t make money. And in doing so, it will ruin the chances of there ever being a decent Shaft movie in the remainder of my lifetime.”

There are several valid reasons to back up the fact that taking the comedic approach is wrong. Let’s start with the reason that means the most in Hollywood—money. While comedies do well, the sort of comedy you’re likely to make does not have a good track record. Low Down Dirty Shame (1994) made $24 million, Undercover Brother (2002) made $39 million, and Bait (2000) made $15 million. There are, of course, exceptions, like the Bad Boys movies, which made just under $400 million collectively, but c’mon…can you really conjure the magic of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and hope for that kind of hit? I don’t think so.

At best, you’ll likely put out a film like Black Dynamite, a movie that has already done what you’re setting out to do. Black Dynamite, despite its cult status, and the animated show that I love—which again, has already done what you want to do—earned less than a million dollars at the box office. Let that sink in—less than a million dollars. By comparison, The Equalizer earned over $190 million globally, and it was a serious action film, with a black man in the lead role (which is what Shaft needs to be).

As of this writing, in the month of July 2015, more than 100 people in the United States have been killed by the police. That’s not the number for the year-to-date, but just one single month. And that doesn’t include people like Sandra Bland, who died while in custody. Police brutality has reached epidemic proportions, and white supremacists seem intent on pushing this nation toward a violent and deadly racial conflict. Last month, an armed white man walked into a church, and massacred nine black people. Not since the 1960s has there been more of a need for a black action hero—one that can provide a cathartic escape from life’s day-to-day horrors, and deliver the sort of wish fulfillment that cinema is intended to do. Not since Ernest Tidyman created John Shaft back in 1970 has there been more of a need for someone just like him. And yet your solution is to take the most iconic hero in the history of black popular culture—something that is missing from the cinematic landscape right now—and turn him into some kind of comedic figure. Congratulations for your forward thinking, New Line and Mr. Davis. Because God knows that what black people—as well as the rest of America—needs right now is ANOTHER black man cracking jokes to distract us from all that ails us. We can leave the superheroics to the white guys, but the black hero can only be heroic if he is wrapped in a comedic package. I believe I speak for many people when I say, “No thanks, and fuck you.”

It is clear to me that you have no real concept of the John Shaft character, or why he and all the other black action heroes that emerged in the 1970s were so important to so many people—myself included. This new movie, if it goes the way it is headed, will be terrible, and I will do everything in my power to see it fail, because you deserve no less than that for taking something beloved by so many, and making it something it was never meant to be.

I could go on, but I’ve said enough. Other than the very sound advice to not make a comedy, you’ll get no more free advice from me. If you decide you want to make a serious attempt at producing a good Shaft movie—one that makes money and launches a viable franchise—you know how to find me (I work for one of you sibling companies, DC Comics, and the good folks at Dynamite Entertainment, which published Shaft, also have my contact information). Until then, I will continue to write Shaft comic books and novels that are true to the character, and you can keep taking a shit and trying to tell us all that it is chocolate pudding.

Sincerely,
David F. Walker

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Tim Story to Direct ‘Shaft’ Reboot
Justin Kroll Film Reporter @krolljvar
JANUARY 20, 2017 | 11:22AM PT

“Ride Along” director Tim Story has come on board to direct the latest reboot of “Shaft.”

The film is being produced by John Davis, Ira Napoliello, and “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, who wrote the script with Alex Barnow.

The original 1971 version starred Richard Roundtree as a smooth private detective who is hired by a drug lord to find his kidnapped daughter. The character became a pop culture icon and the theme song, written by Barry White, went on to win an Oscar.

Paramount Pictures rebooted the film in 2002 with Samuel L. Jackson taking over the role and John Singleton writing and directing.

New Line has since acquired the rights to the pic and revved up development after Barris pitched a new idea that excited execs. No meetings have taken place on who would play the titular role.

Story most recently directed “Ride Along 2” following the success of the original “Ride Along,” a runaway hit scoring $134 million at the domestic box office. He also helped helm the “Barbershop” franchise as well as the “The Fantastic Four” series starring Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis.

He is repped by UTA and attorney Matt Johnson at Ziffren Brittenham LLP. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

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EXCLUSIVE: New Line and director Tim Story have chosen Jessie T. Usher to play the progeny of detective John Shaft in Son of Shaft, which is gearing up to begin production later this fall. Samuel L. Jackson is negotiating a deal to return to reprise the role he played in the John Singleton-directed reboot of the Gordon Parks-directed 1971 action classic. Also returning, per sources, will be Richard Roundtree, who starred in the original film and returned in the 2000 film, in which Jackson’s character played his nephew. The script for the new film is by Kenya Barris.

The studio and filmmakers searched for months to find the right young actor for the splashy role, before deciding the right guy is Usher. Usher’s biggest role to date came in Independence Day: Resurgence. He will play the son of the detective, who, after long being estranged from his father, finds himself teamed up with him. The young man is an FBI agent, a cyber expert, and the partnership with dad is an uneasy collision of old school meets new school.

CAA and MGMT Entertainment rep Usher. The new Shaft film is produced by Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and Barris, the black-ish creator. Story is repped by UTA and Barris by CAA and Principato-Young. Jackson is ICM Partners and Anonymous Content and Stone Manners Salsners Agency and Patrick McMinn Management.

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