An unconventional spin-off series currently in the works for the hit 1985 adventure film The Goonies drew inspiration from an equally unconventional source: a fan film of Raiders of the Lost Ark made by a pair of pre-teen superfans.
Producer Gail Berman detailed the genesis of the project in a recent interview with Variety. “This is a partnership between me, Amblin, and Lauren Shuler Donner,” Berman said. “When I was at Paramount, there were these young boys doing this movie about Raiders of the Lost Ark, a shot-by-shot remake. It got some press at the time, and the studio was very upset about it. I thought it was an amazing idea, and it always stood in my head of — how can you take an idea like that and turn it into a TV series?”
In an attempt to make the series a reality, Berman and the other producers shopped the concept around. “We needed a terrific writer and great partners, so we brought the idea to Amblin and those guys loved it,” she said. “Sarah Watson is our creator. The series is a story of a town and a family in the lens of Friday Night Lights, and within that, they tell a story of a shot-by-shot remake of The Goonies. We had to go to Warner Bros., to Toby Emmerich, and ask if we could have rights [to The Goonies]. They said yes, obviously, because of Mr. Spielberg and the Donners. We’re now doing this for Disney+.”
News of a series based on The Goonies first surfaced in 2021 with the title Our Time, a nod to an iconic line spoken by lead character Mikey (Sean Astin). The series will follow a teacher as she helps her students recreate The Goonies shot for shot. While timing worked against the project at first, it eventually found a home, according to Warner Bros.’s TV Executive Vice President and Head of Development, Clancy Collins White.
“Sarah [Watson] worked nonstop to deliver this incredible script, we had our table read, and then the world shut down for COVID,” White said. “So we came back many months later and finished the beautiful pilot, and it was an incredible cast…It’s been another example of being able to carve a pathway where there wasn’t one by virtue of a great story, a great pilot, a great series.”
Directed by Richard Donner, written by Chris Columbus from a story by Stephen Spielberg, 1985’s The Goonies tells the tale of a group of kids working to save their homes in the “Goon Docks” of Astoria, Oregon from foreclosure. They happen upon a map that leads to the treasure of legendary pirate One-Eyed Willy and set off on an adventure to find it. Along the way, the Goonies run afoul of the Fratelli crime family, a mother and three sons who are set on taking the spoils for themselves.
Made for $19 million, the film had a worldwide gross of $125 million while also cultivating a cult following. In 2017, The Goonies was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The film also starred Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton and Ke Huy Quan.
The Goonies Disney+ show does not yet have a release date.
Source: Variety