Its looking like Irwin M. Fletcher, investigative journalist, known to his friends and movie audiences as Fletch, is back in retirement.
Director Greg Mottola, who directed 2022’s Confess, Fletch in which Jon Hamm starred in the title role, mentioned on social media last night that the proposed sequel to the film he was developing is now a dead project at studio Miramax.
In response to a post that the world needed more Fletch films, Motolla replied, “Alas, the new head of Miramax, who controls the rights to all the books, shot down my sequel project. The Fletch curse got me.” He later added, “I was told ‘the first one lost money’” — as if there had been any attempt to make money. Jon was very into the new script. I’ve been rather depressed about it, but hard to expect a good break in the feature world these days… I got caught in the changing of the guard and my comedy is too dry and unsentimental for the new masters.”
An adaptation of the second book in the Fletch mystery novel series from writer Gregory McDonald, Confess Fletch starred Jon Hamm as the wisecracking newspaper reporter who finds himself involved in an investigation into an art heist and murder. Chevy Chase first brought the character to the big screen in 1985’s Fletch, adapted from the McDonald’s first novel, and 1989’s Fletch Lives, which featured an original mystery.
When Confess, Fletch was released, the studio premiered it in 500 movie theaters and on Premium Video on Demand on the same day. With virtually no marketing push, Confess Fletch only earned a dismal $266,744 at the box office on its opening weekend. The following weekend, the number of screens that the film was on dropped by almost half to about 250. Despite that poor reception, the studio was still keen on developing a followup.
Motolla’s follow up was set to be an adaptation of the third Fletch novel, 1978’s Fletch’s Fortune, which centers on a murder mystery at a journalists convention.
Alas, the new head of Miramax, who controls the rights to all the books, shot down my sequel project. The Fletch curse got me.
— greg mottola (@gregmottola) August 6, 2024
I was told “the first one lost money” — as if there had been any attempt to make money. Jon was very into the new script. I’ve been rather depressed about it, but hard to expect a good break in the feature world these days.
— greg mottola (@gregmottola) August 6, 2024
Thanks, man. I got caught in the changing of the guard and my comedy is too dry and unsentimental for the new masters.
— greg mottola (@gregmottola) August 6, 2024
