Guy Ritchie Possibly Remaking 'The Cannonball Run'?

On a hypothetical list of movies that could use a modern remake, The Cannonball Run would be near the top. It's a revered piece of early Eighties cheese that's loved by a huge group of people while others dismiss it for being mindless, cameo-laden entertainment. The concept, however, of an illegal cross-country race with a huge wealth of different characters is ripe to be remade through the lens of almost any genre.

Now a well-sourced rumor has surfaced thanks to Badass Digest that Guy Ritchie, who is currently shooting the second Sherlock Holmes, is considering remaking the film and that he'd reportedly love to cast George Clooney as the Burt Reynolds-lead role. Read more after the jump.

Badass Digest (with a confirmation from El Mayimbe from Latino Review) is reporting that an "agency source" revealed the existence of this project, though Ritchie's camp didn't acknowledge it. So, count this as a rumor until there's an official confirmation, but the sources are better than usual.

Ritchie is pretty adept as blending genre's and that would have to be the way to go with a remake of Cannonball Run. I don't think he'd make a straight Death Race action film or Rat Race comedy (two semi-recent films that share similar tropes with Cannonball Run) but probably something more along the lines of Ocean's Eleven, blending cool with comedy and action. Plus, that would be much easier for modern audiences to digest.

As for Clooney, the project seems like something he would do if he didn't have a ton of films already on his plate. (Just read this little recap of his upcoming projects.) But, even if this project does somehow come to fruition, the earliest it could start would be Spring 2012. Richie will be in post-production on Sherlock Holmes 2 until Winter 2011, then have to promote it domestically through Christmas. Then there's international press, etc.

If you aren't familiar with the original film, here's the trailer as well as the outtakes, which is kind of what the movie is known for:

So, do you think the film could actually happen? What would be your dream version of this be?