'Scrooged' Remake With Kevin Hart In The Works At Paramount

Scrooged, the Bill Murray riff on A Christmas Carol, is getting a remake. Kevin Hart will star in the film, which will presumably see the actor playing a miserable jerk who learns the error of his ways on Christmas, with the help of three ghosts – you know the drill. There's no script or director yet, but Hart and Paramount are developing the project for Hart to star in. More on the Scrooged remake below.THR broke the Scrooged remake news, which will either excite or infuriate you, depending on where you fall on the Scrooged-fan spectrum. Richard Donner directed the 1988 original, which updated A Christmas Carol to the excess-driven '80s, and found Bill Murray playing Frank Cross, the cruel president of a TV network. Frank's network is in the midst of staging a live performance of A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve, and sure enough, elements of the Charles Dickens classic invade his real life when three ghosts visit him to show him his past, present, and future.Scrooged wasn't exactly a blockbuster when it opened, but in the years since its premiere it's become a bit of a cult favorite – the type of movie people love to break out around the holidays. Quality-wise, it's okay! Murray is easily the best part, and the movie goes to some surprisingly dark and creepy places. All that said, I wouldn't exactly call Scrooged an untouchable classic. And yet...we probably don't need a remake of it. And yet, A Christmas Carol has already been adapted into dozens upon dozens of films, so I guess one more won't hurt.

Hart and his Hartbeat Productions will produce the project, with Paramount distributing. It's not clear yet if the remake will keep the same premise, and have Hart playing a mean-spirited TV president, or if they'll give his character a new career. Maybe he'll run a social media platform or something dumb like that, to make the movie more modern. Or maybe they can get really meta with it, and have Hart be a producer producing a remake of Scrooged. Feel free to use that idea, Paramount.

Hart's voice can currently be heard in The Secret Life of Pets 2, which just opened today. Next up, he'll be seen in the still-untitled Jumanji sequel. Future projects include Fatherhood, a remake of The Great Outdoors, Ride Along 3, and a movie based on Monopoly.