Mr. & Mrs. Smith Getting the Reboot Treatment with MR. & MRS. JONES

Fox's Regency Enterprises is moving forward with a Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot, developing a quasi-prequel to the 2005 hit film called Mr. and Mrs. Jones, without original stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

In the past, a reboot was constituted by the waning public interest or view of a preexisting franchise, or was looking to capitalize on a recognizable name of a property after at least a decade or two of dormancy. But with Christopher Nolan's successful reboot of the Batman franchise -- 8 years after the awful Batman & Robin -- then the Incredible Hulk reboot -- just 5 years after Ang Lee's Hulk -- we have a new breed of remakes that are coming out with little lag time between the hit movie and its subsequent reboot.

We all know plans for the 2011 release of Spider-man 4 was scrapped in favor of a 2012 reboot with a new cast and director (500 Days of Summer's Marc Webb), and later this year Chris Rock's remake of Frank Oz's Death At A Funeral, the uproarious British comedy that was already in English, will be released only 3 years after the original. Planet of the Apes will get a welcomed reboot after 2001's Tim Burton-directed fiasco, while Ghost Rider is getting a reboot of sorts, with Nic Cage still taking on the role of Johnny Blaze.

Vulture reports of the Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot:

In the 2005 movie that created the Brangelina phenomenon, the actors played an outwardly milquetoast married couple who had no idea they were both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other. Jones will serve as an origin story about a similar but differently named couple, showing how a pair of twentysomething spies are set up as a fake married couple when they graduate agency training.

The concept is actually quite a bit different than the first film, as this couple is put into a marriage that they know is fake. Whereas in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, they got together by their own accord, not knowing that the other was also a secret agent. 

Vulture's sources joked that "one reason for the new cast might be that, at least if the tabloids are to be believed, the actual Mr. and Mrs. Jolie-Pitt might not be together long enough to complete a sequel." But the economic benefits are the real reason behind the reboot. One of the root rationales behind Hollywood's reboot fever is that by ditching pricey talent but extending popular name-brand franchises, they get the best of both worlds: a title people know and like, with stars they can afford (i.e., Star Trek).

Oscar-winning writer/producer Akiva Goldsman (Hancock, I Am Legend) is on board to produce the reboot. No word on a director or cast as of yet.

I'm not willing to put money on whether or not this will be successful -- with the right cast and director, who knows? But I'm willing to wager good money that Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" and/or the Counting Crows' "Mr Jones" will be in the soundtrack.

What do you think of Fox rebooting MR. & MRS. SMITH and the concept of MR. & MRS. JONES?