Ernest Gets a Reboot with Son of Ernest
Just when you thought that everything from the ’80s and ’90s had already been rebooted and rehashed a few hundred times over by now, along comes someone to remind us that there’s still at least one more property that has yet to be tapped. Believe it or not, former TV commercial personality turned movie star Ernest P. Worrell is headed back to the big screen… knowhutImean, Vern? Original creator John Cherry is bringing back the classic character that he created in the mid-’80s and then essentially ran into the ground until the death of star Jim Varney in 2000. The new movie is called Son of Ernest and will obviously star a different actor donning the denim vest. Hey, what could possibly go wrong?
According to Variety, production company Ruckusfilm is bringing back Ernest with the help of screenwriter Dan Ewen, who recently wrote a potential upcoming Farrelly Brothers movie called Dear Satan. He also wrote a body switch comedy called Opposites Attract with Kyle Newman (Fanboys) attached to direct. He claims that he will “honor the originals and Jim Varney while birthing a new chapter that lies somewhere between not sucking and Earth-shatteringly funny.”
Although I have fond memories of some of the early Ernest movies like Ernest Goes to Camp and Ernest Saves Christmas, the series later spiraled into direct-to-video territory (the last Ernest movie was 1998′s Ernest in the Army). Although you can’t really say the name hasn’t already been tarnished, let’s face it, a new Ernest movie without Jim Varney sounds like a terrible idea. But will it be worse than Son of the Mask and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Jr.? Check out a promo poster courtesy of First Showing and a collection of some classic Ernest commercials below.
Comments (15)
Ernest Scared Stupid scared the crap out of me as a kid. I’m not proud of this, but it’s true.
Posted by rjdelight on October 16th, 2012That was the halloween one right? I liked that one a lot as well.
Posted by Darksiders on October 16th, 2012Yep, co-starring Eartha Kitt! Ernest vs. Trolls. Can’t beat that!
Posted by rjdelight on October 16th, 2012These are end times.
Posted by Glen on October 16th, 2012I’m sensing that this will be a direct-to-video vehicle for Larry the Cable Guy. It’ll pop up on CMT a couple months later.
Posted by PlanBFromOuterSpace on October 16th, 2012Hollywood.
Stop.
Posted by Owozifa on October 17th, 2012Never heard of this. One of the things that – I presume – never reached far beyond North America?
Posted by Kasper on October 17th, 2012If you never heard of this, you’re not missing anything.
Posted by Maopheus on October 17th, 2012Good for the creator of Ernest!
Posted by scott on October 17th, 2012You’ve never lived if you’ve never heard of Ernest.
Posted by rjdelight on October 17th, 2012Egggssorrronious!
Posted by Jersey Jason on October 18th, 2012It’s too bad that Jim Varney didn’t live long enough to write his autobiography, which surely would have been called “The Importance of Being Ernest”. Oh, come on. Don’t look at me like that. It’s really the only possible choice.
Posted by PlanBFromOuterSpace on October 18th, 2012This is the 2012 end of the world theory they’ve been talking about. Varney will rise from the grave and take names. KnowhutImean?
Posted by Dave on October 19th, 2012http://www.youtube.com/billycrank Look!!!!!!!
Posted by john on October 28th, 2012Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis, Ernest, people like to deny it but they made us laugh.
Posted by ramubay on January 3rd, 2013Leave a Reply