Coming Soon noticed something special this morning. On the industry script tracking board trackingb.com there’s a post saying that Shane Black has written a spec script for Lethal Weapon 5.
There’s not much to this story; I don’t have a lot of details to flesh this sucker out, so read that again. Shane Black. Lethal Weapon. 5.
According to trackingb, Black contacted Joel Silver about reviving the franchise. I wrote about five different jokes to run after that last sentence, but every one of ’em ended up poking at Black’s post-Kiss Kiss Bang Bang fortunes and I love him too much to do that. Furthermore, the claim is that Danny Glover and Mel Gibson both want to return. Difficult to believe, especially with respect to Gibson. But maybe his turn as a detective in Edge of Darkness will replace his cold, black crazy heart with one that still loves to act.
As much as I’d rather see Black doing his own stuff (unlikely as that is at this point) a new Lethal Weapon film powered by his script would be such an odd way for the series to come full circle. Black helped change the landscape of popular movies with the first film, and was part of the spec script wave of the ’90s. It would be only fitting that he end the series with a move like this.