Will There Ever Be Another Pink Panther Movie?
Another film in The Pink Panther franchise is reportedly in the works, and Eddie Murphy is eyed for the lead role as Inspector Clouseau.
In a cinematic landscape awash in sequels, prequels, and reboots, is there room for another film in the Pink Panther series? Actually, there just might be, but perhaps not exactly the kind you’d expect. Still, if you’re a fan of the wacky detective comedies, you could possibly have something to look forward to.
MGM recently announced that director Jeff Fowler (Sonic the Hedgehog) was attached to a new Pink Panther film with a script by Chris Bremner. This time, however, the film would not only feature Inspector Clouseau but the animated Pink Panther character as well. Sounds like something Fowler could actually pull off.
Who the new Clouseau could be is as-yet unknown, but The Hollywood Reporter said that Eddie Murphy was close to striking a deal to play the famous inspector.
The Pink Panther films are best known to contemporary audiences as a pair of movies starring Steve Martin, but they are actually a venerable comedy franchise that stretches back to the 1960s, encompassing 11 films and 124 animated theatrical shorts.
The movies follow Inspector Jacques Clouseau, an inept investigator whose attempts to solve cases invariably lead to comical antics . . . and usually a great deal of property damage. But they also lead to accidentally solved cases and unintentionally captured crooks, leading to his reputation and France’s greatest detective.
Beginning in 1963 with The Pink Panther, the title of the first film refers to a large and valuable diamond with a flaw that, in the right light, has the appearance of a leaping, rose-tinted panther, giving the gem its name. The title has continued throughout most of the series, even in films that do not feature the diamond. Still, the stone has played a role in six of the 11 features.
For the opening title sequence of the first film, an animated Pink Panther character was created, who was used in all but two of the subsequent films. He became so popular that he was featured in a series of animated theatrical shorts, known for carrying on the distinctive “da-dum, da-dum” theme written by Henry Mancini for the original movie.
In fact, the theme and the animated character are likely more well-known than the films for which they were created.
The shorts were later broadcast on television as The Pink Panther Show and have led to the panther being featured on T-shirts, mugs, posters, and more. In fact, the visibility of the animated character and the ubiquity of the memorable theme is one of the things that has kept the film series in the public consciousness, even when the movies were not being made—which has been an increasingly long time.
There was a 10-year gap between 1983’s Curse of the Pink Panther and 1993’s Son of the Pink Panther, and it would be another 13 years before Steve Martin stepped into Clouseau’s moustache to (almost) revive the franchise, whose last entry was 14 years ago.
The role of Clouseau was famously originated by Peter Sellers, widely considered one of the greatest comedic actors of his generation. Well known for his roles on the Monty-Python-inspiring BBC Radio program The Goon Show and in Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick’s comedic take on the nuclear arms race, Sellers is probably best remembered as Clouseau.
The role was also played by Alan Arkin in 1968’s Inspector Clouseau and in a cameo appearance by Roger Moore in Curse of the Pink Panther, but Sellers was always the favorite.
Though Sellers died in 1980, the film series continued, using existing footage of the actor for Trail of the Pink Panther and then featuring a new star, Ted Wass, as detective Clifton Sleigh, on the hunt for a missing Clouseau in Curse of the Pink Panther.
Son of the Pink Panther featured Italian comedy star Roberto Benigni as Clouseau’s illegitimate son, but it seemed that without Sellars, the films simply would not take off again. After 1993, Blake Edwards, who had co-written and directed all but one of the nine features in the series at the time, was no longer involved either.
But the Pink Panther rose again in 2006 when Steve Martin, a seeming spiritual heir to the work of Sellers with his long string of hits featuring wacky physical comedy as well as witty humor, took on the role of Clouseau.
The first film opened to a tepid response that was positive enough to inspire a sequel in 2009. Audiences, though, were not inspired, and the film tanked even worse with critics and at the box office, earning just $75.9 million globally on a $70 million budget and garnering a 13 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
