As of late it seems like the folks at Hanna-Barbera are having a garage sale with the rights to their old TV shows. In the past few years we’ve seen a horrid adaptation of Yogi Bear, an even worse Smurfs film (with a 2nd coming 2013), and now Alcon pictures has decided to bring everybody’s number one super guy to the big screen. That’s right ladies and gentleman, I can only be talking about the one and only, Hong Kong Phooey.
Alcon Entertainment is indeed planning on a combination live action/animation rendition of the 70s classic which revolves around a mild mannered police station janitor who also doubles as a bumbling kung-fu practicing crime fighter. Alcon Entertainment has chosen Eddie Murphy to voice the role of this crime fighting pooch and perhaps this will be the film’s only saving grace. Murphy can be real hit or miss in the live action world but his two voiceover roles in Mulan and Shrek have most certainly become staples of his career and bode well for the Phooey franchise.
Alcon has also chosen to bring in Alex Zamm for the role of Director. Zamm, for those not familiar, is the one responsible for such classics as Inspector Gadget 2, Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts, Tooth Fairy 2, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, and Carrot Top’s Chairman of the Board. What this essentially means, is that Zamm has loads of experience with talking animals, as well as horrible kids movie franchises. Now it may seem like I’m being hard on Mr. Zamm so I would at least like to mention that he was also the one responsible for My Date With The President’s Daughter, which just so happens to be a classic among kids growing up in the late 90s.
Now I guess we should all wait for the first trailer to come out before we truly judge this film. However, I still get an uneasy feeling when I think about Hong Kong Phooey hitting the box office. If the film becomes even somewhat profitable it would undoubtedly mean greenlights for all sorts of horrible Hanna-Barbera remakes. I can only imagine the posters in Times Square totting “Swim Along With The Snorks, 2014” or even worse “A Captain Caveman Christmas”. Why are so many people choosing the worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons when they could be potentially tapping into a goldmine by looking into a Johnny Quest trilogy? Heck, give me the rights to Pirates of Darkwater and let me show you what a good Hanna-Barbera adaptation can do for the industry!
Big ups to the folks at Collider for the info and Press Release!
