THE CANNONBALL RUN (Remake)

• THE CANNONBALL RUN

Car giant General Motors is currently developing a remake ofthe 1981 action comedy, The Cannonball Run. Teaming up with Hollywood, thecarmaker will be taking product placement to a whole new level.

Vulture claims that Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) is at thetop of the list for directing duties and wants Brad Pitt to star along with afew of his Oceans 11 colleagues. However, Real Steel's Shawn Levy has alsoexpressed interest in the project, but envisions his Night at the Museum starBen Stiller in the leading role. Albert S. Ruddy is said to be producing thefilm.

According to Vulture, GM wants to do more than commit to theusual "soft" marketing support and lay down some hard dollars onbacking the reboot. With more involvement, the car company could utilize thepicture to showcase their new 2014 car lineup.

It's still unclear when Cannonball Run will be heading intoproduction, but if a deal like this goes through, we'll be looking at some sortof record for how far product placement can go in financing a film.

The original film starred, starring Burt Reynolds, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Chan, Roger Moore, Dom DeLuise and Farrah Fawcett, amongst others. The film also spawned a successful sequel.