What’s Playing is reporting that Amblin Entertainment and Universal Studios are in discussions with Classic Media, the rights holders of Casper the Friendly Ghost, to bring the deceased child back to the big screen.
The film would be a live-action film and will probably have a 3D component to it, though everything is still early in discussions. One thing that is said to be a top priority, though, is returning the ghost to the big screen. Casper has had several made-for-DVD films released since 1997, including one that featured Hilary Duff as Wendy the Good Little Witch.
Make fun of me all you want but I have a serious soft-spot for the 1995 big screen adaptation of Casper starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci. A really, really big soft-spot. Thanks to all the commercial tie-ins that the film had with Pizza Hut (the film was used to promote the restaurant chain’s then-new line of Stuffed Crust Pizzas by selling ghost hand puppets featuring characters from the film), I think of the 1995 movie every time I eat a slice of pizza. True story.
In the original movie, here was just the right amount of melodrama and kid-friendly supernatural fun — plus an appearance by Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz. I wholeheartedly believe a reboot could be a huge hit if given an equal amount of care. Hey, you could even bring Devon Sawa back. Producers wouldn’t even need to give him more than a week’s notice. I don’t think he has much of a schedule to clear lately.
