On the scale of things popular in the 1980s that society does not need to revisit, a reboot of the Police Academy film franchise ranks somewhere in-between a sudden, ironic resurgence of Member's Only jackets, and a new Van Halen album. Considering that both those awful things are happening right now, then of course we're getting a Police Academy reboot.
The news comes from Deadline, where word is that New Line Cinema plans to bring back the franchise with director Scott Zabielski at the helm. "Wait just a cotton pickin' minute," you might say while slipping into a Foghorn Leghorn accent for absolutely no reason. "Who, I say who is this here Scott Zabielski and what makes him qualified to direct a Police Academy movie?" Good question! Scott Zabielski is a director that's primarily worked on television shows like Tosh.0 and Breaking Bonaduce (which I forgot was even a show until just now.) As for his Police Academy qualifications? He's actually been to the police academy! Like, the real one! According to the news piece, he's a reserve cop in Hollywood, so OF COURSE he's qualified enough to direct a Police Academy movie. All the wacky hijinks in the films? Totally based on reality.
The Police Academy films are, of course, the seven movies that spanned a 10-year period between 1984 and 1994 and brought us roughly two actually funny films, plus the enduring careers of Steve Guttenberg, Michael Winslow, Bubba Smith, and to a much, much lesser degree, Leslie Easterbrook. They were comedic films aimed at inserting utter wackiness into the realm of the typically staunch police training program. Also, at one point they went to Moscow, because The Cold War was almost still relevant.
What, exactly, a Police Academy reboot would even look like in this era I have no idea. I'm guessing something knowingly stupid in the vein of the new 21 Jump Street movie, but perhaps with more Guttenberg cameos. All I know is, if they can't find someone new to be the vocal sound effects guy, just bring back Michael Winslow. Lightning doesn't tend to strike twice for that kind of thing.
