From 1984 until 1994, a series of sitcoms titled “Police Academy” followed a group of eccentric police officers as they engaged in bizarre shenanigans. This serial was once profitable, releasing new films almost every year, but by the time Police Academy: Mission to Moscow arrived, fans had had enough.
The Police Academy was finished for the time being, so it was time to put away the badge and the staff. Since then, several initiatives to relaunch this series have been launched, with the most well-known being one led by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Given that it mirrors the career trajectories of its creators and leading actors, even though it was never completed, it’s nevertheless worthwhile to consider this unrealized production.
A glimpse of the Key & Peele Film Called “Police Academy”
With Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele as the stars of the sketch comedy series Key & Peele, which gained enormous popularity on television and particularly on YouTube (where specific sketches became internet phenomena), this duo was destined to appear in films at some point. The outcomes ranged from Cabin Boy to The 40-Year-Old-Virgin to Knocked Up to The Rocker, with small-screen comedians always managing to land at least one chance to star in a movie. So it was inevitable that the men who created so many iconic Key & Peele comedies would get their chance to star in a theatrical film.
Although the original Police Academy franchise had been around for a while, it did not have the same lasting impact on pop culture as Star Wars. However, younger moviegoers who haven’t heard of the first installments may find the film interesting because Key and Peele are involved as producers and prospective starring males.
Later that year, Peele revealed that no decision had been made on whether he and Key would appear in the film, pulling back the curtain on the script. Instead, he stated that whether or not they appeared in Police Academy would depend on whether or not it would help the plot or merely serve to distract viewers rather than the egos of these two artists.
In addition, he expressed enthusiasm for how the story was developing and the people he and Key were working with to create this remake of a Police Academy film. This team was about to have much more free time as Key & Peele’s Comedy Central run ended. During that time, they could create a brand-new vision for the Police Academy franchise.
Why Didn’t the ‘Police Academy’ Remake With Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele Take Place?
It’s not exactly a state secret as to why this Police Academy revival didn’t take place. Keanu’s poor earnings of $20.7 million on a $15 million budget were a letdown. Like The Lonely Island, Key and Peele had trouble getting people to see comedies in cinemas.
Nevertheless, what was more concerning was how big American film studios stopped making comedies in the late 2010s. Even branded reboots lost their appeal with companies like Warner Bros., so the studio could have been more excited to see a new Police Academy. Based on Key and Peele’s remarks, this iteration of Police Academy would have likewise been an action/comedy update of an established name. Shaft, Baywatch, and CHiPS struggled at the box office in this subgenre in the late 2010s, making the thought of a new Police Academy from these two comedians even less appealing to the studio.
The thing that proved to be the biggest disaster for Police Academy was a blessing for the film as an art form. After Keanu, less than a year later, the horror cinema industry gained a vital new voice with the release of Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, Get Out. After making his name in Hollywood with absurdist sketch comedy, Peele would now concentrate on making spooky and profound films like Us and Nope. Unfortunately, Jordan Peele didn’t have time to work on Police Academy because of his attention to these initiatives and his work on other horror films like Candyman.
This change in vocation, in addition to Keegan-Michael Key’s many engagements as an actor and musician, would guarantee that this reworking of Police Academy would be abandoned. However, it’s not like there aren’t any timeless films in the franchise to watch, so fans of this series should see the positive side.
