Cooley High is Getting a Remake

Cooley High has been set for a remake at MGM with DeVon Franklin, Common and Tony Krantz partnering on the seminal 1975 coming-of-age drama.

The original movie, which was released in 1975, was set in Chicago and followed the lives of two high school friends played by Glynn Turman and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. The movie was considered a coming-of-age film in a time when blaxploitation films were popular. Seth Rosenfeld will write the script.

When it comes to remakes, they can go one of two ways: really good or really bad. Especially when you’re messing with nostalgia.

Common has signed on to star in and produce the comedic-drama remake.

Set in 1960s Chicago and focused on a group of high school pals with big dreams of getting out of the South Side, Cooley High fell in with a series of terrific coming-of-age films that included American Graffiti, The Lords Of Flatbush and The Wanderers.

The original became influential in African-American storytelling, in that it told a complex depiction of life as a black American and didn’t fit the blaxploitation mold of the time. 

The Michael Schultz-directed film cost $750,000 to make and grossed more than $13 million. Lighthearted at times, Cooley High also addressed serious topics like gang violence, masculinity and sexism, and the value of education in the black community.

That made it fertile ground for Franklin, the former Sony exec who has focused on films with uplifting content; the Chicago-native Common (who with John Legend shared the Oscar for Best Song for Selma); and Krantz, whose father Steve Krantz produced the original film. They felt it a timely project in light of the racial unrest that has followed several high-profile shootings throughout the country.

But seriously, Can you remake Cooley High?

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