Thursday, June 17, 2010

Dittoheads of the World Unite!

Let's just jump right in. I'm rolling calls with my boss the other day [read: dialing the phone for him] and he's chatting with an executive from a certain youth-oriented network. I'm zoning out or applying for another job or doing whatever I to do to stay awake while they yammer away when something catches my ear. They begin a brief discussion of a TV show this network is considering with a logline of BAD NEWS BEARS meets KARATE KID.  Now where had I heard that before?

Oh right.  It's a movie script that's floating around.  See if this description sounds familiar...

ENTER THE DOJO
Caliber Media
LOGLINE: The self-centered, washed-up former star of a "Karate Kid"-type movie, runs out of money and is left with only a crappy karate dojo he still owns in the valley. In order to pay back the IRS, he is forced to teach martial arts to a bunch of misfit kids who've been kicked out of every other dojo in town. BAD NEWS BEARS meets THE KARATE KID.

No.  On second thought, that's not it.  It was something else that I saw.  Oh yeah.  It's this other movie script that's floating around.

YELLOW BELTS
Elements Entertainment
LOGLINE: Pitched as BAD NEWS BEARS meets KARATE KID this family comedy, centers on a washed-up action star, who after a ridiculously public fight is sentenced to a summer of teaching martial arts to bored and misguided kids at the local YMCA.
Hollywood is dead.  It just doesn't know it yet.  Kinda like Larry King.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't Forget SENSEI at Summit. Basically the same thing. or THE FOOT FIST WAY starring Danny McBride.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's all that unusual for a simple idea to have multiple incarnations and I don't necessarily think that means Hollywood is dead. Vapid? Sure. But not dead...in fact, I think the "Bad News Bears meets X" pitch comes around every few years like a reminder that Hollywood isn't quite dead yet. Just like I go out and get drunk on tequila every few years to remind myself I'm alive...

My question is, where is the "Karate Kid" in the "KARATE KID meets BAD NEWS BEARS" of this pitch? This just looks like Bad News Bears/Mighty Ducks in a Karate Dojo...or maybe WAX ON, F&CK OFF meets BAD NEWS BEARS. I mean, the only reason Karate Kid is in these log lines is because of the hype, but not because there is any synergy between the Bad News Bears and Karate Kid plots here. I mean, Bad News Bears meets Enter the Dragon would seem to make almost as much sense here.

Anonymous said...

Hollywood is dead because they won't make that show. Instead they will do a gritty reboot of Bad News Bears.

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