Is Police Academy: The New Class real?

❘ Published: 2024-01-10T11:45:54

Steve Guttenberg in Police Academy and the fake poster for The New Class

Warner Bros./YODA BBY ABY: Facebook

Rumor has it that the Police Academy franchise is gearing up for a reboot with The New Class, starring Steve Guttenberg – but is it true?

The comedy series kicked off with 1984’s Police Academy, following the exploits of recruits who try to become police officers after the city’s mayor forces the academy to accept every application. It was an extraordinary success, grossing an eye-watering $149 million against a $4.5 million budget.

It launched a franchise with six sequels: Their First Assignment, Back in Training, Citizens on Patrol, Assignment Miami Beach, City Under Siege, and Mission to Moscow. The last film was released in 1994 – but only barely, as it grossed a mere $126,000 in the US.

While an eighth installment has been in development hell since 2003, it seems there’s been a breakthrough with Police Academy: The New Class – or has there?

Is Police Academy: The New Class happening?

No, Police Academy: The New Class isn’t coming out in 2024, nor is any similar project being released any time soon.

Predictably, a Facebook page is responsible for getting people excited: YODA BBY ABY, which regularly shares fake posters and other made-up news.

The fake poster for Police Academy: The New Class

Alongside the poster, the page wrote: “POLICE ACADEMY REBOOT!!! Get ready for a hilarious ride in Police Academy: The New Class, hitting theaters in March 2024. Join Steve Guttenberg as Commandant Carey Mahoney in this uproarious and satirical comedy set at the Miami Dade Police Academy. With a blend of wit and excitement, this film guarantees laughter for audiences of all ages.”

Sadly, this movie definitely isn’t happening. However, that’s not to say another Police Academy entry will never see the light of day.

In the early aughts, Police Academy 8 was earmarked for a 2007 release with most of the main cast – but it was suspended, and it looked increasingly like it’d become a direct-to-DVD movie. “”Anything’s possible. You’ve got to hope for Paul Maslansky and those folks over there to put it together. It’s up to them. It would be great to see everyone again,” Michael Winslow (Larvell Jones) said in 2008.

That same year, Guttenberg affirmed that an eighth film was still in development and that he’d direct it. In 2010, he told The Hollywood Reporter: “It’s going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV. It’s going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It’ll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we’ll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme.”

Development seemed to go back and forth through the 2010s, with Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele once attached to produce the reboot. The last update was in 2018, when Guttenberg tweeted: “The next Police Academy is coming, no details yet, but it is in a gift bag being readied!”

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