What 'Shaft' Can Learn From 'The LEGO Movie'

Word dropped last week that New Line Cinema has procured the rights to the Shaft franchise and is indeed planning a reboot. The Wrap's Jeff Snyder is reporting that John Davis will be producing the film, which will be the third variation on the iconic blaxploitation character. He was of course first played by Richard Roundtree in three films in the 1970's before the mantle was handed to director John Singleton and star Samuel L. Jackson in 2000 in Paramount/Viacom Inc's quasi-sequel (since Roundtree reprised his role while Jackson played his nephew). Offhand, I would argue that this is another case of mistaking affection for an actor for interest in a character. Shaft wasn't a solid hit ($107m worldwide on a $46m budget) because audiences adored Shaft so much as it was a perfect case of Samuel L. Jackson playing the somewhat iconic character. But come what may, we are getting a Shaft reboot, which means that Hollywood needs to figure out what kind of Shaft they want. To that end, I would advise New Line Cinema to look towards The LEGO Movie.