The Director of ‘The ‘Burbs’ Is Available for Seth MacFarlane’s Reboot of the Cult Comedy

Because no ‘80s movie is immune to the Hollywood reboot trend (a $20 million-per-episode prestige TV remake of Weird Science will surely happen any day now), we’re now getting a new version of The ‘Burbs, the 1989 Tom Hanks comedy about a gang of middle-class suburbanites who begin to suspect that their new “Slavic” neighbors are murderous Satanic cultists. 

As we’ve pointed out before, The ‘Burbs has arguably never been more relevant, coming at a time when conspiracy theories are as rampant as ever, and American xenophobia has been cranked up to 11. And while the original was clearly riffing on the “Satanic Panic” paranoia of the 1980s, we’re currently living at a time when everything from Taylor Swift concerts to restaurants at Disney World have been accused of promoting demonic messaging. 

At least people seem to have backed off from the idea that He-Man toys and Smurf dolls are the handiwork of Lucifer.

The reboot is coming in the form of a new streaming series for Peacock, with executive producers that include Brian Grazer and Seth MacFarlane. While we’ll have to wait and see whether or not MacFarlane insists on working in random cutaways and talking animals, it does sound like the premise of the show will be quite different from the film.

Written by Celeste Hughley, who previously wrote episodes of Palm Royale, Dead to Me and the excellent High Fidelity series, the new take on The ‘Burbs will star Keke Palmer as “half of a young married couple who return to the husband’s childhood home.” The couple’s “world is upended when new neighbors move in next door, bringing old secrets of the cul-de-sac to light, and new deadly threats shatter the illusion of their quiet little neighborhood.”

Obviously, the original didn’t involve any “old secrets” being brought to light, and the movie begins with all of the characters firmly established in the suburbs, not moving there for the first time. The synopsis also makes the show sound quite dramatic, so it’s possible they’re going for more of a thriller vibe than the film, which featured gloriously goofy scenes such as this one:

Despite these changes, one director who’d be a perfect fit for the ‘Burbs show is the guy who literally made The ‘Burbs: director Joe Dante. And Dante’s made it known that he’s available for the gig. Either that, or he’s just a big Carly Rae Jepsen fan.

Dante, who also helmed classics like Gremlins and Innerspace, is a great filmmaker and a Hollywood icon. Even if the show differs from the movie, it would undoubtedly be interesting to see his take on a new reinterpretation of his past work. It’s not just me saying this either, other folks online have been making this very same point.

If Peacock doesn’t hire him to work on The ‘Burbs, maybe Universal can finally give him a Small Soldiers sequel instead.

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