Last Updated on July 30, 2021
If you're like me, then this news might be killing you, smalls. According to the Major League Baseball's official Cut4 website, the beloved childhood movie THE SANDLOT has a brand new TV series in the works, and it will star the original cast.
Now, don't get me wrong, THE SANDLOT was one of my favorite movies growing up. It's one of those films I've easily seen at least twenty (or thirty) times, and I'd be willing to argue that it may actually be the greatest sports flick of all time — especially since you can actually follow what's happening in the games, rather than some lesser films which shall not be named that are more concerned with montages and pretty faces. This is precisely why this news makes me wary — call me old fashioned, but why mess with a good thing? No matter how hard you try, you're just never going to replicate the "FOR-EV-ER" quote, or recreate the moment when Ham ridicules a naive Scotty about The Great Bambino, or out-do the iconic dog chase between Benny Rodriguez and The Beast.
Writer/director Mickey Evans apparently disagrees. Speaking on the Rain Delay podcast, Evans said that, "I've just sold a SANDLOT television series," noting that he's expecting to receive an order for two seasons and that the entire original cast will be back for this new project. The new series is expected to air on a streaming platform of some kid — although the service has not yet been revealed — and it is said to take place in the year 1984, so roughly 22 years after the original film, which was set in the year 1962.
Chances are that since the movie is taking place 22 years after the first film and is starring the original cast, the faces we know and love will play fathers to a new ensemble, starting the story all over again while still serving fanfare to those who cherished the first.
For those who are less familiar with this early '90s masterpiece, the story centers around the new kid in town, Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry), who may be a whiz in the classroom, but isn't such a hotshot at making friends. At the urging of his sweet mother, Scotty takes it upon himself to do all the things children are supposed to do during long, hot summer days — hopping fences, getting into trouble, and most importantly, playing baseball with the neighborhood kids. It's all going so well, until the day when Scotty grabs his father's old ball off the shelf from his office, accidentally hands it over to the local monster masquerading as a canine, and then learns that Babe Ruth himself signed the very same treasured possession that he just lost. Now, it's up to Scotty and his new pals to retrieve the ball without losing a limb before his father notices his trophy's absence from the home.
There was talk last summer of a prequel in the works, but nothing has been solidified on that front as of yet. So far, there's only two sequels to the original 1993 film. The first, back in 2005, which Evans wrote and directed was titled THE SANDLOT 2, which starred James Earl Jones from the o.g. cast. There was an additional sequel two years later titled THE SANDLOT: HEADING HOME, starring Luke Perry and Chauncey Leopardi, who reprised his role as Squints, but Evans was not involved.
What do y'all think about this news, gang? Are you excited for more SANDLOT material? Feeling the heat of one too many movies-turned-into-television-programs? Sound off in the comments section below and let us know!
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