Herbie the Love Bug
Title Note: The title, Herbie the Love Bug, is tentative, as the title may change when Disney decides upon a script.
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Cast: None announced yet. It's unknown if Dean Jones, who has played Herbie owner Jim Douglas in all versions except 1980's Herbie Goes Bananas, and 1974's Herbie Rides Again, will be returning in any capacity.
Director: Unknown.
Director/Screenwriter Note: Back in 1999, it was announced that J. Max Burnett (1998's Possums) was working on a script titled Herbie & Millie, but it appears that Disney isn't going ahead with that project, as they are currently seeking a writer to start from scratch.
Screenwriter: Daniel Gerson (copywriter of Monsters, Inc.), Robert Baird (debut; he and Gerson have worked together on TV's The New Addams Family and 1999's Misguided Angels); rewrite by David Berenbaum (debut; he's also working on the movie version of Disney's ride attraction, Haunted Mansion)
Based Upon: This will be the fifth feature film in the Herbie series that started with The Love Bug (1969), followed by Herbie Rides Again (1974), Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), and Herbie Goes Bananas (1980). These movies were followed in 1982 by a very short-lived TV series called Herbie the Love Bug, and in 1997 by a Wonderful World of Disney movie, The Love Bug.
Car Note: Though this is the first Herbie movie in 20 years, and that time has seen the advent of The New Beetle, Disney is currently leaning towards keeping Herbie an older model car, with racing stripes, labelled with the number 53, though they're still open to a possible redesign. The Hollywood Reporter quoted Disney sources as saying they don't want this movie to merely serve as ¿a commercial for the new VW Beetle (10/18/00).
Premise: There are no details yet known, as Disney has not yet hired a writer. The only thing we can count on is that this will be about a VW Bug, Herbie, that can drive itself.
Filming: 11/26/00 - Though there is no script yet, Disney does hope to get filming started sometime in the spring of 2001 before the expected SAG strike. (5/8/01) Well, it looks like that isn't going to happen, and there's no word about when it will... it could be a while.
Source: wheelspin
