Jon Hamm is set to make a new advertising pitch, one that will see him taking on the deadpan, stumble-bumming 1980s-era comedy mantle of Chevy Chase with a reboot of Fletch.
Miramax has announced its development of a new Fletch movie, which will see star Hamm co-produce with the studio. The film will be a reboot of the franchise launched by 1985 hit detective comedy Fletch and continued with 1989’s Fletch Lives, which starred Chevy Chase as Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher, an eccentric-but-tenacious L.A. Times reporter who gets scoops the dangerous way while donning an absurd variety of disguises. Like the 1985 hit, the reboot will be a loosely-comedic adaptation of author Gregory McDonald’s 1974-launched series of Fletch detective novels.
As Miramax CEO Bill Block expresses in a statement:
Reboot status aside, Miramax’s Fletch won’t carry a copycat story of the 1985 classic, which centered on Fletch’s investigation of a complex murder-for-hire scheme and a perilous romance. Rather, the new film will adapt the second book in McDonald’s Fletch novels, 1976’s Confess, Fletch, in which Fletch finds himself the prime suspect of multiple murders, endeavoring to clear his name and—in some monumental multitasking—find his fiancée’s stolen art collection inherited from her presumed-dead father. Of course, the Hamm-headlined Fletch film will look to retain the humorous flair of the Chase-starring films, although likely without the synth-strewn Harold Faltermeyer score.
Additionally, Hamm serves as producer alongside manager and producer Connie Tavel, joined by executive producer David List. As Tavel states:
It will be interesting to see if there’s an untapped interest for Fletch in the 2020s. While the Chevy Chase film—the first one, specifically—is widely recognized as a comedy classic, it wasn’t exactly a monstrous box office hit, only grossing $50 million domestic and $9 million international, relegated to the #2 spot in its May 31-June 2, 1985 opening weekend to the second-week run of Rambo: First Blood Part II. While Fletch Lives did top its March 17-19, 1989 debut, it was stale and ultimately grossed less than the original. However, as is the case with all reboots, there’s always the mysterious variable of nostalgia, which may not pay off consistently, but is a formidable force nevertheless.
