HBO Max is reportedly rebooting the Police Academy franchise with some original cast members. Additionally, they are also reportedly going to continue the Oceans franchise. HBO is preparing to join the streaming wars to go up against Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon, Apple, and more. In order to truly have a chance, the upcoming streaming service is going to need some new original content and the Police Academy reboot and Oceans installment could fit into that. It should be noted that we’ve heard about a possible Police Academy reboot and or sequel for decades now. Producers, directors, and writers have all come and gone over the years, but this might be the real deal.
Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg revealed that a new Police Academy movie was happening back in 2018, and this could very well be what he was talking about. It is believed that Guttenberg and Michael Winslow will star in the new project, but no other familiar names have been announced. Bobcat Goldthwait talked about the reboot in 2010, and while he had positive things to say about it, he did state that he did not want to have anything to do with it. Goldthwait’s comments are now 10-years old, so maybe he has changed his mind by now. HBO can probably make a pretty generous offer to the comedian.
Sources say that the Police Academy reboot has not been officially announced yet because of HBO Max. One source close to the matter says, “HBO Max was announced first. This one and others will be announced in coming months.” Let’s hope this proves to be true. Fans of the franchise have been teased for decades and now would be a great time to see a reboot with some of the original cast attached. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens when the new streaming service launches in May.
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele were attached to write and direct a Police Academy project back in 2016, but there hasn’t been any news since then. Their version was said to have been grounded in reality, but we’ll probably never know for sure now. Peele has a lot of stuff on his plate at the moment and probably doesn’t have time for a comedy reboot on HBO Max, though that could have also changed in the last four years. Let’s hope Steven Guttenberg and Michael Winslow start talking about this soon.
As for the new Ocean’s installment, it’s not clear where the story will go. It could follow up on Oceans 8, but it was not exactly the hit at the box office everybody was expecting. There’s a chance HBO could be going back to the George Clooney and Brad Pitt installments, but that has not been confirmed at this time. We could also see the streaming platform go for a brand-new slant on the franchise with a focus on different characters. We’ll just have to see if and when HBO makes an announcement.
Police Academy launched in 1984 and became a successful comedy franchise throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. However, none of the sequels matched the acclaim or box office success of the first installment. The last installment came out in 1994, so it’s been a minute since we’ve seen any of these characters. HBO Max is preparing to launch at the moment and they have a ton of hot properties to stream, but they will need new original content to get people on board to subscribe. The Police Academy reboot and Oceans news was first reported over at TV Sneak.
