The old-age rivalry between the jocks and the nerds is about to be reignited by Seth MacFarlane. The Family Guy creator is developing a reboot of the '80s comedy Revenge of the Nerds at 20th Century Studios.
Keith and Kenny Lucas, the identical twin Lucas Brothers, are set to star in the film and will be co-writing the project with Alex Rubens. You may remember the Lucas Brothers from their scene-stealing turn in 22 Jump Street which makes them a pretty solid duo to take this on. MacFarlane will produce the film for his company Fuzzy Door Productions, along with Erica Huggins. This reimagining is likely to have more luck than the last attempt to reboot the film. 20th Century Fox attempted a remake back in 2006 starring Adam Brody, Dan Byrd, and Kristin Cavallari but the studio called off the project after two weeks of production.
The film isn't going to be a reboot in the classical sense but more of a reimagining that will dig into today's nerd culture and what being a geek even means in the 21st century. The decision to not do a straight reboot of the 1984 film may have to deal with the film generating its fair share of controversy years after its release. The film was called out for suggesting rape by deception due to the fact that Lewis (Robert Carradine) pretends to be Stan (Ted McGinley) in order to sleep with Betty (Julie Montgomery) and the film is seen by some as a negative representation of a male-dominated culture at the time. Director Jeff Kanew and writer Steve Zacharia even expressed their regret for some of the material back in 2019 during a "GQ" interview. Speaking on the rape by deception scene Kanew said "In a way, it's not excusable. If it were my daughter, I probably wouldn't like it."
Despite being panned at the time of its release, Revenge of the Nerds was a box office hit, grossing $40.8 million on a $6-8 million budget. The story centered on a group of college nerds who go head to head with the jock fraternity the Alpha Betas and starred Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Ted McGinley, and Bernie Casey. The film went on to achieve even more cult status in the years after its release and it spawned three less successful sequels that include Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise, Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation, and Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love. The latter two releases debuted straight to television.
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