There’s seldom a day that goes by without word of another sequel, reboot or TV adaptation headed into the early stages of development. Keeping in line with that tradition, Deadline has announced that Sony subsidiary, Crackle, are producing a sequel to the 2001 “comedy”, Joe Dirt.
The star of the original, David Spade, is also attached to reprise his role as the idiotic janitor who becomes an overnight media sensation.
“I’m beyond stoked that Joe Dirt will finally hit the screens again on Crackle,” the actor said. “I’ve been sleeping in this wig for years and it will be nice to wear it in the daytime again.”
The sequel will see the original scribes reunited, in an attempt to recapture the spirit of Joe’s first madcap venture. Spade will pen the script alongside Saturday Night Live writer Fred Wolf, who’s also set to direct. There’s no word on where the follow-up will take Joe, but to be honest, does anyone give a hoot? Joe Dirt was a flop in every sense of the word. Financially and critically it bombed, which begs the question, why on Earth are we being subjected to MORE?
Regardless, production is set to commence on mid-November in Louisiana, and aims to hit all Crackle platforms sometime next year. The decision for Crackle to snap up the property is indeed an intriguing one. In light of Netflix securing Adam Sandler’s next four movies for exclusive release via their service, we expected to see more of this type of deal – just not this quickly. Crackle are keen to capitalize on the Joe Dirt brand though, as re-iterated by their GM:
“David Spade had a fresh and unique vision for Joe Dirt 2 that he could have brought anywhere and we couldn’t be happier that he brought it to Crackle for a first-of-its-kind, worldwide release,” said Eric Berger, Crackle GM and Sony EVP Digital Networks. “The original film has been a longtime viewer favorite, ranking among the most viewed in our library, and we decided to produce and distribute the sequel as a feature for fans everywhere.”
Clearly they have every hope that the film will be a success. While it usually requires a lot for a sequel to better the original, in this case, that’s not gonna be hard.
More news on the Joe Dirt sequel when it lands.