Warner Bros. is Developing a Remake of the 1991 Gangster Film NEW JACK CITY
Warner Bros. is looking to produce another remake and this one will be one of the 1991 neo-noir gangster film New Jack City. The remake is being written by Snowfall actor and filmmaker Malcolm M. Mays.
The original film was directed by Mario Van Peebles and had a great cast that included Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Chris Rock, Flavor Flav, Allen Payne, Judd Nelson and Peebles.
In case you’ve never seen the film, “Snipes played arrogant New York City drug lord Nino Brown during the 1980s crack epidemic. Ice-T portrayed Scotty Appleton, a detective who goes undercover in Nino’s gang, the Cash Money Brothers, to bring down the drug lord for taking the life of his mother. Rock was “Pookie” Benny Robinson, a former stick-up kid who becomes homeless and poor after Appleton shoots him in the ankle. Pookie becomes a crack addict and eventually a police informant and infiltrates the Cash Money Brothers.”
This is the official synopsis for the original movie:
Drug tycoon Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) and his minions, known collectively as the Cash Money Brothers, have rapidly risen to the top of the New York City narcotics trade. Under Nino’s heartless leadership, the drug operation has grown into a multimillion-dollar empire. Scotty (Ice-T) and Nick (Judd Nelson), two police officers who know their way around the streets of Harlem, aim to bring Nino and his cohorts down. To do so, though, they’ll have to play by Nino’s rules and go undercover.
I’m not sure why WB feels that New Jack City needs to be remade, the original film was good enough. But, as we all know, most studios in Hollywood don’t like to take risks with original film properties. So, we will continue to ride the remake merry-go-round.
No director is attached to the remake yet, but Bill Gerber (A Star Is Born) is producing along with the film’s original producer Doug McHenry.
What do you all think about New Jack City getting the remake treatment?
Source: Deadline