Kevin Smith had stepped down from making the Amazon-produced 'Buckaroo Banzai' television series, after co-producers MGM filed a lawsuit against Earl Mac Rauch and W.D. Richter, the original writer and director of the feature film respectively. In a Facebook live video, Smith said that he had read an article on the Hollywood Reporter on the lawsuit. It was the first he had heard of this, and wasn't happy about the treatment of the original creators. He still praised MGM's treatment of him, but did not feel comfortable proceeding forward without Rauch and Richter's involvement.
What is Banzai?
´The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension' was a 1984 fantasy adventure film starring Peter Weller, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd and John Lithgow. A combination of 80s rock and 1930s adventure and science fiction (like Doc Savage), the film told of a crime fighting rock star surgeon and his band, The Hong Kong Cavaliers, who try to foil an alien invasion from another dimension. There was a long rumoured sequel, teased at the end of the film, 'Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League' that never happened due to the lackluster box office of the first film. Instead, the film has been adapted into novels, video games and several comics by Marvel and Moonstone.
What will Smith post-Banzai?
Smith previously said that had already planned out the early seasons, saying the events of the original film would make up the narrative for Seasons 1 and 2, which would then lead into a version of 'Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League.' Smith recently directed an episode of CW's 'The Flash' series, as well as make 'Yoga Hosers', a feature length comedy starring his daughter, Harley Quinn Smith, as well as Johnny Depp and his daughter, Lily-Rose.
The film, about two teenage store clerks who fight monsters, is the second part of Smith's True North trilogy (started with his 2014 horror film, 'Tusk', and concluded with his upcoming 'Moose Jaws') and debuted to highly negative reviews.
