The Pink Panther is gearing up to strike again. No, not the classic Peter Sellers films. No, not the Steve Martin ones either. This is no time for that sort of subtlety. It’s 2020. Chaos is the name of the game. So naturally, the actual Pink Panther cartoon character will star in his own live-action/CGI movie in the style of Sonic the Hedgehog, because anything less would just feel lazy at this point.
MGM has announced an upcoming movie centered on the maybe beloved mascot of the late Blake Edwards’ classic comedy film series. Jeff Fowler is attached to direct, fresh off the success of 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog, which he also directed. Writer Chris Bremner, known for his work on 2020’s Bad Boys for Life, will write the script, and it will be interesting to see how his experience with the action comedy cop series translates to a wacky cartoon movie. Finally, among the others behind the scenes, Dame Julie Andrews (she’s Mary Poppins, y’all) will serve as one of the producers, which isn’t all that surprising considering Edwards was her husband until his death in 2010.
The Pink Panther is the studio’s longest running and most successful comedy franchise, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t let it lay dormant for too long. It began as a single film of the same name from Edwards starring Peter Sellers as the bumbling detective Inspector Clouseau. From there, it branched off with a series of successful sequels and cartoons, even gaining a reboot in 2006 starring Steve Martin. The original film also saw the first use of Henry Mancini’s now iconic “Pink Panther Theme,” a song still instantly recognized by people of all ages today.
Curiously, at least for those unfamiliar with the series, the original “Pink Panther” wasn’t even a character. It was a valuable diamond. The center of a thieving plot in 1963’s The Pink Panther, the diamond had a flaw that resembled a leaping pink panther. However, the cartoon character of the same name also premiered in the same film during the opening credits. So while Sellers’ performance as Clouseau seemed to have the biggest impact at the time (with the character going on to appear in 10 more films, most of which also starred Sellers), the Pink Panther character himself has persisted as the franchise’s eminent mascot to this day.
So now there’s a Pink Panther cartoon movie coming up. Rather far removed from the character’s original appearances, where he was more of an abstract representation of the diamond than an actual tangible entity, it seems the film will likely take its inspiration from the cartoons and other appearances (such as a still persistent run as a mascot for an insulation company for some reason) that have remained largely consistent since the franchise began.
The live-action/CGI nature of the film might suggest that this will be the first time where the film version of Clouseau (through his several iterations) interacts with the actual Pink Panther character, rather than just having both appear as cartoons. No telling how things will turn out this early, but no matter what happens, it’ll most likely have a lot of “pink” puns.
Source: Deadline
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