"Hey, you guys!" Will we ever get that much-talked about, long-awaited sequel to THE GOONIES? Does anyone still care?
There has been much buzz over the years about a sequel to (or a reboot of) the beloved 1985 adventure that turned "Chunk" and "Sloth" into household heroes. A couple years ago, GOONIES director Richard Donner hinted that there was real momentum on the project after three decades of waiting around, and several of the original cast members, including Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, and Sean Astin, have at one time or another expressed an interest in returning.
I spoke with Astin not too long ago about the possibility of another go-around with the legendary pirate One-Eyed Willy, and he told me earnestly, yet with a bit of tongue in cheek, "It is a mortal lock – I would bet my children on it – that there will be a sequel. It may not be in my lifetime, but there will be a sequel because the public wants it so much and Steven [Spielberg], who's really the decision maker, wants it really badly."
Astin, Brolin, and Feldman were among the child stars searching for the legendary treasure of One-Eyed Willie in order to save their families' homes from foreclosure in the film written by Christopher Columbus, based on a story by Spielberg. Martha Plimpton, Kerri Green, Jeff Cohen, and INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM'sShort Round Ke Huy Quan rounded out the kiddie cast for the summer movie release.
"Whether they want the sequel to be about the Goonies' kids, whether we're too old for it, it doesn't matter," continued Astin. "What matters is that [Spielberg and Donner] get to try and capture the magic again, because they love it and the public wants it. The fact that they haven't done it yet, I think, is a testament to them, because they haven't found the magic yet."
Subsequent to that statement, Feldman declared in an interview with MovieWeb that he didn't think the film would be happening simply based on Donner's age. Donner has been the true driving force behind a new GOONIES movie happening at all, but the veteran director of THE OMEN, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, the LETHAL WEAPON franchise, and so many other fan favorites is no spring chicken. He's a spry 87 years old, and making a major motion picture at that age as a director may be too much of a burden at this stage in the game. He may just not be interested in taking it on in that capacity. Producing, however, is another matter that may be more manageable. And according to a Brolin, Spielberg does have a sequel script already written, sitting in a secret drawer somewhere.
But Warner Bros. has made no official announcements, and while there is much hope and optimism among fans and the stars/filmmakers alike for another GOONIES movie, it just doesn't seem to be happening.
In a recent Reddit AMA, Plimpton let fans down gently by declaring, "I really wouldn't expect it. It's been teased for decades and I don't think it's going to happen. At least, as far as I know. I think Dick Donner, who is a brilliantly funny man, likes to torture us all with the prospect. I believe it's his revenge for having been tortured by all of us for six months in 1984."
An interesting side note: I spoke with legendary movie poster artist Drew Struzan recently at a show of his Amblin work at Creature Features in Burbank, CA, and he brought to my attention that he was commissioned to do seven variations of his infamous GOONIES poster at the request of Steven Spielberg — each featuring one of the kid stars of the movie at the top — so they could each get their moment in the spotlight on the newspaper advertisements. Now that's a pretty cool thing to do!
(thanks to Posterwire for the variant art layout).
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