The remake of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World receives a major script update from Eddie Murphy, who last year revealed plans to remake the 1963 Oscar-winning comedy.
Now, during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Eddie Murphy says the script for the remake of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is nearly finished. The project has been in development for nearly 15 years as they have struggled to perfect it. However, with talented new writers involved, it is “really close” to being finished.
Despite more than a decade of delays, the remake remains Murphy’s top passion project. Read his full comments below:
A reboot [of 1963’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World]. This has been in development for, shit, almost 15 years. They can never get the script right. But right now, we got the two writers that wrote The Pickup, and they wrote the Donkey [spinoff movie] — these writers are super hot and super smart — and supposedly they’re really close on A Mad, Mad World. I’m cautiously optimistic because we’ve been in development for so long. That’s the pet project. That’s the one I want to do more than anything.
Directed by Stanley Kramer, with a script written by William and Tania Rose, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World follows a quirky group of motorists in the California desert who witness a lone car accident, and when the dying driver reveals the whereabouts of a suitcase filled with stolen money, they race against each other across the state in a madcap pursuit to claim it.
The 1963 movie stars Spencer Tracy and an all-star ensemble made up mostly of comedians, including Edie Adams, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Dorothy Provine, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, and Jonathan Winters.
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World characters driving in a car
The movie was a massive critical and commercial success, making $60 million against its $9.4 million budget, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning in the now-defunct category of Best Sound Editing.
Eddie Murphy first revealed plans to remake It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in June 2024, saying it will also feature “a cast of all the who’s who of comedians,” including Martin Lawrence, though it’s unclear who else will star:
I got this other idea for something with Martin [Lawrence]. I’ve been developing it for years. Did you ever see a movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World? Well, I got a script, it will be delivered any minute now written by Jez Butterworth and I’m trying to do a remake of that movie.
It’s one of my favorite movies of all time and if I do it, if the script turns out right, it’s gonna be a cast of all the who’s who of comedians. Anybody that was funny over the last 30 years is going to be in this movie.
Release Date
November 7, 1963
Runtime
190 Minutes
Director
Stanley Kramer