Robert Rodriguez won’t direct his Jonny Quest movie, but at least it’s faithful to the cartoon
Robert Rodriguez seems no longer attached to helm that live action PG-13 Jonny Quest adaptation that he co-wrote with Terry Rossio (the Pirates Of The Caribbean series) and Dan Mazeau (Wrath Of The Titans). According to Forbes, Justin Lin (Star Trek Beyond), Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange), and Joe Cornish (Attack The Block) are all in the mix as potential replacements.
It’s unclear why Rodriguez is out as director, but he does like to shoot his films with a $300 budget over the course of 17 hours, so they sometimes come out feeling like straight-to-video knockoffs from the ’80s. And since Forbes’ Mark Hughes—who somehow got his hands on the script—is raving about what a strong adaptation this is and how it’s “a potential tentpole picture capable of spinning off a whole expanded universe of franchises,” you have to wonder if maybe Warner Bros. didn’t want this to look like Machete Kills In Space (which, if you’ll recall, is a real movie that’s actually happening). That’s just conjecture, though. Maybe Rodriguez is all tied up with Spy Kids XII or Sin City: Libertarian Wank Fantasy.
However, it does seem like Rodriguez and company did a bang-up job giving their screenplay the same tonality as the ’60s-era Hanna-Barbera cartoon we all watched on Saturday mornings after Thundarr The Barbarian. “Fast paced and full of witty banter, fights, and lots of sci-fi technology—jet packs and the aforementioned robot spiders, for example—this is a terrifically fun screenplay that is easy to envision as a big, successful summer popcorn flick,” Hughes says. “There’s a retro coolness alongside a decidedly modern sensibility.”
Here’s hoping they keep that score.