Sherwood Schwartz’s 1964 sitcom “Gilligan’s Island” was a pop-cultural powerhouse, attracting a mass viewers bigger than any of the CBS executives anticipated. Whereas many critics and viewers members criticized the present for playing around, unrealistic, and simplistic, it nonetheless lasted for 3 hit seasons, and was put into everlasting syndication, staying alive in reruns for many years. What’s extra, the sequence warranted quite a few TV film sequels and spinoffs, together with a 1981 TV film whereby Gilligan (Bob Denver) and the opposite castaways met the Harlem Globetrotters — known as, helpfully, “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island” — and an animated sequence whereby the castaways turned stranded on a distant planet (!). Sure, “Gilligan’s Planet” is a factor.
The spinoffs retained all the unique forged members, excluding Tina Louise, whose character, Ginger, was performed by varied different actors. Curiously, the Globetrotters film was the final time an unique “Gilligan’s Island” undertaking graced the display. One may assume that the nostalgia-hungry media panorama would have exploited the “Gilligan’s Island” I.P. by now. The undertaking would instantly achieve consideration, and a few readers may already be recasting the seven stranded castaways of their heads. Which sizzling comedic actors may play Gilligan within the yr 2024?
In spite of everything, there have been characteristic movies of “The Munsters,” “The Addams Household,” “The Brady Bunch,” “The Honeymooners,” “The Beverly Hillbillies,” and even “Automobile 54, The place Are You?” Why hasn’t one of the vital well-liked sitcoms of all time, “Gilligan’s Island” been topic to the characteristic movie or reboot therapy?
It appears that evidently varied “Gilligan’s” movie initiatives have been pitched through the years, together with a 2009 movie that was to be overseen by Schwartz himself. This movie was to star Michael Cera as Gilligan and Beyoncé as Ginger. Sadly, that undertaking by no means obtained off the bottom. It was coated in a 2009 article for the web site TV Sequence Finale.
Michael Cera as Gilligan, Beyoncé as Ginger
Information of the 2009 “Gilligan’s Island” film broke when Schwartz, then 92, was being inducted into the Academy of Tv Arts & Sciences Corridor of Fame. Chatting with the press, Schwartz revealed that he and his son, Lloyd, had been negotiating with a significant studio to make a film, and {that a} deal had been struck lower than two days earlier than. He famous that he had hassle containing his pleasure. It was then that he declared that Michael Cera ought to play the eponymous character. On the time, Cera was greatest identified for his position on “Arrested Growth,” and one can see the same bumbling vitality in Cera’s efficiency to Bob Denver’s on “Gilligan’s Island.” Cera was additionally acknowledged for his performances in movies like “Juno,” “Superbad,” and “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist.” He was an up-and-coming star, and Schwartz favored him.
Beyoncé appears extra like a pipe dream, because the massively well-liked pop star would have possible commanded the majority of the brand new movie’s finances. Additionally, regardless of having appeared in movies like “Obsessed,” “Dreamgirls,” “The Preventing Temptations,” and “Austin Powers in Goldmember,” Beyoncé was nonetheless higher often called a singer than an actor. Since “Obsessed” in 2009, Beyoncé has solely acted in voice roles or appeared in musical movies (like “Lemonade” and “Black is King,” each of which she additionally directed).
It is unclear as to why the undertaking dried up. There was no information about scheduling conflicts, finances points, or anything, so it appears it was certainly one of many Hollywood initiatives that merely did not make its method out of pre-production. No actors formally signed on.
Different Gilligan’s Island films that have been by no means made
One is likely to be tempted to say that “Gilligan’s Island” is cursed. Not solely did the 2009 movie collapse, however an effort in 2013 to adapt the sequence to the large display additionally led to a large number of authorized troubles. Warner Bros. was gearing as much as make a “Gilligan’s” movie with actor Josh Gad, however a screenwriter named Travis Dunson observed that the brand new movie was very, similar to a spec script he wrote in 1999 known as “7 Stranded Castaways from the Hood.” Dunson sued Warner Bros. over the matter and the 2013 movie was ultimately shut down. It is unclear if Dunson’s case had something to do with the closure of the Gad movie, nonetheless. It is extra possible Warner Bros. merely misplaced curiosity in it.
Some may additionally recall rumors within the late Nineties that Jamie Kennedy was going to play Gilligan in a brand new characteristic movie. That movie, the rumors went, was going to be am edgy, extra-raunchy, R-rated model of “Gilligan’s Island.” There’s, nonetheless, no substantial details about Kennedy-related undertaking, so it should stay within the realm of hypothesis. Different rumors mentioned that, of all individuals, convicted felon Donald Trump would have performed Mr. Howell.
It is troublesome to gauge the present cultural cache of “Gilligan’s Island.” Whereas youngsters of the Nineteen Sixties watched the present, and youngsters of the ’80s have been raised on reruns, Era Alpha does not appear to be plugged into Nineteen Sixties sitcoms. A “Gilligan’s Island” film in 2024 would require the studio to re-familiarize audiences with the idea and guarantee them that, sure, it was as soon as one of the vital well-liked sitcoms on tv.
Whom would you forged because the seven stranded castaways?