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Last week saw news of the long popular Lethal Weapon franchise central to the talk of a fifth film according to a new report at The Hollywood Reporter as of last week. The word now is that nothing is official although the films’ original stars – Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, and director Richard Donner are on board as things currently stand, along with Channing Gibson following through with a script.
The first of the four-film buddy cop action movie franchise launched in 1987 from Warner Bros., telling of a reluctant and challenged, albeit beneficial partnership and bond between aging L.A. detective Roger Murtaugh (Glover) and an ex-Green Beret and newly transfered narcotics cop, Martin Riggs (Gibson), forged through the kind of life-or-death ride-or-die car chases, explosive action sequences that made Hollywood blockbusters a household name. Previous talk of returning Lethal Weapon to the big screen began a little over ten years ago via reboot with Joel Silver shepherding the process and actor Chris Hemsworth’s name circulating as a possibility to star.
Shane Black was tasked to provide script treatment followed by a retouching with Gangster Squad screenwriter Will Beall in 2011 for Fast And Furious franchise helmer Justin Lin to direct and of course, all that is out of the window with Black head-deep on his new Predator installment and Lin set to helm the ninth installment of Universal Pictures’s Fast And Furious saga. Black also helped advance Fox television’s treatment of Lethal Weapon which premiered last Fall and has since continued with a second season as of September.
I think the return of the old guard for a fifth outing would be a grand idea. The news comes at a time when Sony Pictures is shelving a third theatrical effort for Bad Boys in exchange for a television series centered on Gabrielle Union’s character from Michael Bay’s 2003 sequel, and with Glover and Gibson both very much still working actors and giving Lethal Weapon 5 a nod at this point, it’s a move that makes simple sense.
Granted Glover’s Murtaugh might not be footchasing anyone in the film either but don’t discount Gibson’s Riggs. Jet Li gave these two a run for their money in the last film and that our beaten and bloodied heroes would find themselves in another crazy adventure, imaginably, only excites the fandom further.
Are you up for more Riggs and Murtaugh hamming it up once more at Warner Bros.? Let us know.
