Reissue, repackage, re-evaluate. Remakes and reboots, obviously, continue to be an important line at the studio movie factory, but two projects surprisingly stuck on the conveyer belt are Gremlins and The Goonies. Gremlins**, we learned a few months ago, has a new writer after its years in development hell. But what of The Goonies, of which we've heard nothing for well over a year. According to original writer Chris Columbus, it's still in active development, and he himself is carefully overseeing.
"The stuff that I’m involved with — the Gremlins and Goonies reboots, for instance," says the man who went on to direct Home Alone and the first two Harry Potters, "they would do those without me. So, I’m staying involved just so I can be protective and actually protect what people love about those movies so it doesn’t go off track."
So far, so ho-hum. What's interesting there for those paying attention is the first use, that we know of, of the word "reboot" in relation to the project. As opposed to "sequel". Last time he spoke at any length on the subject, Columbus was musing a generational torch-passing that would at least include the original cast: "I think the only way it could be done is if the kids are now the parents, and their kids have become the Goonies."
Is that still on the cards? Will we see any of the surviving original players - who included Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Ke Quan, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton and John Matuszak - if a new Goonies goes ahead?
More questions than answers then, and no-one attached bar Columbus. But the fact that we're talking about it at all seems to mean there's potentially life in Goonies 2 yet...