The Longest Yard remake in development from writer of HBO’s Winning Time

Last Updated on November 21, 2023

The Mean Machine is getting back on the field… again. Deadline reports that Paramount Pictures are developing another remake of The Longest Yard.

The 1974 original was a prison sports comedy starring Burt Reynolds as Paul “Wrecking” Crewe, a former NFL star who is sentenced to 18 months in Citrus State Prison, where he recruits a group of prisoners to play football against the guards. The film included a number of real-life football stars, including Ray Nitschke of the Green Bay Packers. The 2005 remake amped up the comedy and starred Adam Sandler in the role of the wash-up quarterback, who agrees to assemble a prison team in exchange for a reduced sentence. Burt Reynolds appeared in the remake as the team’s coach.

The remake starring Adam Sandler wasn’t the only adaptation of The Longest Yard, nor was it the first. Vinnie Jones took the lead in Mean Machine in 2001, which changed the sport from American football to Association football, and Captain Masr did the same in 2015. Is the world ready for more of The Longest Yard?

The latest remake of The Longest Yard will be scripted by Rodney Barnes, who was an executive producer and writer on HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. The HBO series dramatized the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, chronicling the Showtime era of the basketball team. Unfortunately, the series was cancelled after just two seasons in September. Winning Time clearly wasn’t meant to end so soon, and the finale included an additional scene that attempted to bring closure to the story, but series creator Max Borenstein expressed on X/Twitter that this was “Not the ending that we had in mind.“

The Longest Yard remake comes from Gunpowder & Sky, with CEO Van Toffler producing alongside David Gale. Both Toffler and Gale also executive produced the Adam Sandler version.

Are you down for another remake of The Longest Yard? Which version of the movie is your favourite?