New Line has picked up the rights to the Shaft franchise and are forging ahead with a new take from John Davis, a producer who is no stranger to rebooting franchises. He produced both the original Predator and the 2010 version, as well as upcoming films like Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Victor Frankenstein.
The original 1971 movie starred Richard Roundtree and was directed by Gordon Parks. The property was rebooted by John Singleton in 2000 and saw Samuel L. Jackson play the nephew of the original Shaft.
He was joined by an impressive cast which included Christian Bale, Elizabeth Banks, Toni Collette, Vanessa Williams, and Jeffrey Wright. It performed reasonably well at the box office but never spawned a sequel.
There’s apparently no word on whether this version will connect to the previous two Shaft movies, but a new actor is obviously expected to take on the role of the movie’s titular NYPD detective. Who that might be remains to be seen, but there are obviously any number of talented actors New Line could choose for Shaft.
The necessity of reboot is debatable, but any movie with a non-white lead is understandably welcomed by audiences desperate for more diversity on the big screen, so here’s hoping they get this one right.
