Advertisement

Kevin Hart and Will Smith to star in 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' remake

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 09:  (EXCLUSIVE ACCESS, SPECIAL RATES APPLY) MTV Generation Award Honoree Will Smith (L) and host Kevin Hart pose backstage at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards at Warner Bros. Studios on April 9, 2016 in Burbank, California.  MTV Movie Awards airs April 10, 2016 at 8pm ET/PT.  (Photo by Jason Kempin/MTV1415/Getty Images for MTV)
Will Smith and Kevin Hart (Credit: Jason Kempin/MTV1415/Getty Images for MTV)

Will Smith and Kevin Hart are being lined up for a remake of one of the most beloved comedy movies of all time: 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

According to Variety, the movie will be an updated take on the classic road trip, with both Smith's Westbrook Studios and Hart's Hartbeat Productions co-producing.

Brooklyn 99 writer Aeysha Carr will be penning the script, with Smith and Hart as the odd couple having to navigate their way back home to their loved ones.

It starred John Candy, 37 at the time, as blabbermouth shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith and a 42-year-old Steve Martin as stuffy businessman Neal Page.

Both men are grounded in New York when a blizzard hits the city, just two days before Thanksgiving, so they hit the road together, with frequently disastrous consequences.

Steve Martin and John Candy sit in a destroyed car in a scene from the film 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles', 1987. (Photo by Paramount/Getty Images)
Steve Martin and John Candy sit in a destroyed car in a scene from the film 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles', 1987. (Credit: Paramount/Getty Images)

Penned and directed by the legendary filmmaker John Hughes, it was not a box office smash on its original release in 1987, making just shy of $50 million from its $30 million budget.

Read more: Ferris Bueller - hero or villain?

However, it's since become a festive staple, and signalled Hughes stepping out of the teen movie market he'd become synonymous with for a more grown up, bittersweet comedy.

Thus far support for a remake on social media feels very thin on the ground.

But perhaps the comedy pair can put some kind of fresh spin on the original.