They've been laughed at and picked on. Now, the nerds have been booted off campus. So much for Revenge.
Producers behind the remake of 1984's Revenge of the Nerds have scrapped the project after officials at Atlanta's Emory University backed out of a deal to have the film shot on campus, deeming the nerds' antics too bawdy.
"Everybody has worked really hard on Revenge of the Nerds, and we're all disappointed that we can't move forward," said Peter Rice, president of Fox Atomic, the studio behind the redo.
The original cult comedy starred Anthony Edwards and Robert Carradine as a pair of lovelorn misfits who form their own fraternity and use their smarts to fend off a campus full of bullying jocks.
Nerds featured a memorable supporting cast that included Timothy Busfield, Ted McGinley, Curtis "Booger" Armstrong, John Goodman and James Cromwell, along with the unforgettable Donald "The Ogre" Gibb and Bernie "U.N. Jefferson" Casey.
The original cost a bargain $8 million and grossed $40 million domestically—a pretty sizeable haul in those days. It also spawned one big-screen sequel, 1987's Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise, and two for TV, Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation and Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds In Love.
The new Nerds crew hoped to reimagine the hit franchise with a bunch of relatively unknown actors, all of whom Rice said have been compensated for their work on the picture and were released from their contracts.
The $12.5 million production was being helmed by newcomer Kyle Newman and produced by Charlie's Angels director McG and The O.C. star Adam Brody—none of whom could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The remake would have marked one of the first outings for 20th Century Fox's teen-targeted genre label, Fox Atomic, which plans to release the horror flick Turistas next month.
The Nerds revamp was expected to begin shooting at Emory in October. But after reviewing the script, university officials balked two weeks before the intended start date, forcing producers to scramble for another location. After trying out Agnes Scott College in nearby Decatur, producers ultimately decided to scuttle the project, because the latter school lacked the wide, open space Emory's campus would have afforded them and winter was fast approaching, making the prospect of shooting the movie's many outdoor scenes problematic.
Fox Atomic had hoped to unleash its Nerds remake next summer.