Paramount is making a movie titled Boy Scouts vs. Zombies. Need any more be said?
The project is based on a script co-penned by Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki, whose sole previous professional writing credit is on the disposable 2008 Martin Lawrence comedy College Road Trip. However, the pair's Boy Scouts vs. Zombies screenplay was well-regarded enough to make the 2010 Hollywood Black List of the best unproduced scripts, and was acquired by Paramount the year afterwards.
However, Evans and Mochizuki's script draft is getting a rewrite so... make of all that what you will.
Heat Vision is reporting that Etan Cohen will make his feature-length directorial debut on Boy Scouts vs. Zombies. Cohen got his career going writing on animated shows, ranging from Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill to Disney's Recess; his film scripting resume likewise varies between more risque adult comedy fare (Tropic Thunder) to kiddie-friendly flicks like Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - and, more recently, the first script draft for this summer's Men in Black III.
Cohen will "supervise" a new draft of the Boy Scouts vs. Zombies screenplay, as is to be penned by Lona Williams (Drop Dead Gorgeous). Also aboard to produce the feature are people like Andy Fickman (She's the Man, The Game Plan), Todd Garner (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Jack and Jill) and Betsy Sullenger (You Again).
In other words (in case the title alone didn't tip you off), Boy Scouts vs. Zombies is clearly going to be fashioned as a high-concept farce featuring the undead - one which falls into the zombie movie camp occupied by such comical title as Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, rather than the serious dramatic territory occupied by The Walking Dead and this year's World War Z adaptation.
Brain-hungry monsters and youthful boy scouts is an outrageous combo, no doubt, and one that should attract immediately attract the interest of die-hard zombie enthusiasts (no pun) who've even been willing to wade through low-budget B-movie flicks like Black Sheep and Zombie Strippers! in order to get their zombie "fix."
Cohen and Williams will presumably have to devise an overall ingenious shooting script, assemble a promising cast, and put out a pretty entertaining trailer to convince most everyone else that Boys Scouts vs. Zombies is something worth shelling out cash to see on the big screen (especially given the less-than-stellar additional personnel attached to the project).
On the other hand, considering that the upcoming slate of in-development movies involving the undead includes films with titles like Zombies vs. Robots and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Boy Scouts vs. Zombies only sounds a bit more (if at all) like an elaborate prank than its peers. It's a funny time we live in, isn't it?
We will keep you posted on the status of Boy Scouts vs. Zombies as the story develops.
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Source: THR