Lea Thompson, star of the original Howard the Duck movie, reportedly pitched a reboot to Marvel Studios. Thompson, who played Marty McFly's mother in the Back to the Future franchise, also starred alongside the talking waterfowl in a film known as one of the worst movies of all time. Released in 1986, the film was nominated for seven Razzie Awards (wining four) and currently holds the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating for any Lucasfilm production.
Regarded as Marvel's first attempt at a theatrical release, the movie completely bombed at the box office and was universally torn apart by critics. Criticized for its performances, humor, and inconsistent tone, audience members were also put off by the appearance of the title character. Despite its overwhelmingly negative reception, in the years since its release, the film has taken on a cult following. This cult obsession has resulted in Howard's return to the big screen in brief cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Endgame. Additionally, a recent announcement told that the original Howard the Duck film was getting a special 4K release this month to mark its 35th anniversary. Clearly, the duck has not completely faded into obscurity.
THR reports that Thompson and the Howard the Duck team pitched a reboot of the cult classic to Marvel Studios. Thompson was inspired by the recent turn in reception to the film, after seeing that Howard the Duck was trending on Twitter. She pitched her vision for the future of the character to Marvel, hoping that Howard could rejoin his rightful place in the MCU. See Thompson's full quote below:
"Joe Quinones did some of the art for the pitch because he and Chip Zdarsky did the last run of Howard the Duck comic books... Chip and I worked together and came up with a really great pitch. Marvel liked the pitch, but they have different plans for the different characters."
As Thompson explains above, the pitch was created alongside Chip Zdarsky, writer for Marvel Comics, and artist Joe Quinones, who helped co-create a Howard the Duck comic book from 2015-2016. Though they liked the pitch, it seems that Marvel unfortunately passed on the reboot idea. However, Thompson does mention that the studio may have different plans for the character in the future, which means that Howard may see some sort of reboot down the road.
Though the original film bombed hard when it first released, since then, it has seen the rise of a dedicated cult following. In addition, given the fact that Howard is now officially part of the MCU canon, a reboot is not entirely out of the question. Now that Marvel has fleshed out their catalog, it gives Howard an entire universe to play in. However, the question of whether a Howard the Duck reboot could live up to its fans' expectations is entirely valid. After all, the Howard of the 21st century would have to be very different than the Howard of the '80s.
Source: THR