“Confess Fletch” headed to Streaming!

EPISODE 26: Confess Fletch...Theater or Streaming? We Have the answer!

Greg Mottola gives us the exclusive news that "Confess, Fletch" movie has been sold to a streaming network. Listen to Laker Jim and Jake speculate as to what streaming service Fletch might land on. We listen to a clip of Jon Hamm on Brian Baumgartner's "Off the Beat" Podcast who gives us clues as to what we can expect.

FLETCHCAST VOICEMAIL HOTLINE
Leave us a voicemail with a comment or question: (267) 714-6799 - the voicemail is open & available 24/7

FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Bob West


Follow Us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imfletchcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imfletchcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imfletchcast


P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. 
All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible 
publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters created by both Gregory McDonald and Universal. 

FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

... making sure Fletch Lives forever!

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Robert "Big Bob" West


Follow Us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imfletchcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imfletchcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imfletchcast


P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. Confess, Fletch is Copyright of Miramax with Paramount distribution. All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters or intellectual property created by Gregory McDonald, Universal or Miramax and is used for educational purposes only. 

Transcript

FletchCast Intro 0:02

Broadcasting live and around the world or from Cabana One, the OnlyPodcast with all bearings, your ultimate source for everything Flash. Thank you. Laker Jim and its beat reporters will stop at nothing to make sure Fletch lives forever. Forever. They don't shower much. This is Fletchcast.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 0:43

Thank you, Steamie, and welcome everybody to a very special prompted breaking news edition of FletchCast. I'm your host, Legacy Jim. Along with me tonight is Jake. Bob, unfortunately, is off on assignment in the Himalayas, so he can't be with us tonight. But Jake and I wanted to jump on here and share something that Greg Matola told us that is an exclusive news item in the world of Fletch. And you guys are going to hear it first.

Jake Parrish 1:06

I couldn't wait. Well, this is a question that all of us have really been asking for months and months after the completion of the Fletch film is confess Fletch is what we're talking about, the new Fletch film. And the big question we had was where it was going to be released, whether it was going to be in the theaters or streaming, and when it was going to be released. Well, at least we have one of the answers to those questions today. And it's pretty exciting.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 1:35

We can finally put the speculation to bed as to what platform we're going to be able to see Confess Fletch on in this edition of the Jane Doe Report.

FletchCast Intro 1:47

The Jane Doe Report.

Jake Parrish 2:13

So he reached out to us earlier in the week because I asked him just for an update on what's going on. And he said that the movie has been sold, right? Which is great news. He says, I'm not at liberty to say where yet. Very well.

FletchCast Intro 2:29

I'll just have my people contact each other then to keep them busy.

Jake Parrish 2:32

But this is the big news. It is a streaming network. Yes, finally an answer to this burning question. Yes. And he also says he's very happy with the situation. I think bodes well for Fletch and maybe even the future of Fletch.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 2:48

And he also let us know that he was sort of leaning towards this the entire time of selling it to a streaming service. And he felt like that's where Fletch would be best. And we actually discussed this as well. And we felt like Fletch uh was best on a streaming service as well.

Jake Parrish 3:02

I think so, because at when we look at it in this way, costs are definitely down as far as trying to promote a movie, uh putting a movie into movie theaters. And I think going this direction, I'm very excited about because I really think it gives us the best opportunity to see more Fletch movies.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:20

Now, the only question are we going to be asking our girls, want to confess Fletch and chill?

Jake Parrish 3:26

Yeah, so that we don't know. He was not at liberty to say right now. So I guess we can only speculate, but we'll see. Yeah, pulling up Becky Culpepper.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:37

Who's your client?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

I'm not at liberty to say.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:41

Looking at the top streaming services, you know, if he's very, very happy with who they sold it to, you know, it has to be one of the top services, I would imagine. Which would be Netflix, would be the number one, and Amazon Prime would be number two, which I was actually surprised to see because Amazon Prime doesn't get a lot of play, so to speak. But Jake, you had mentioned that it has a lot of book series, so it kind of like fits in with some of their programming.

Jake Parrish 4:09

Yeah, I think you're exactly right. Because look at the recent Reacher series, which was incredibly popular. They have the Bosch series that just ended uh after seven seasons, and now it's coming back in another form on their IMDB freebie version. Um the Jack Ryan series with John Krasinski. Uh that's been on three or four years. So I think it would make sense for them to use it to go that way to Amazon Prime, but who knows? But either way, I'm very excited. He didn't divulge when it would be released, but I would assume it would be sometime this year.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 4:50

And I think the only other possible option might be Apple TV as well. Right. So outside of those three, I I would be totally shocked. Uh, Hulu as well. I guess Hulu, but they're not really are they more television than movies?

Jake Parrish 5:03

It seems like I think you're right. I don't think they go the movie direction, yeah. Uh as a series series. I think what are the most popular recent series was Only Murders in the Building, right? With Steve Martin and Martin Short, uh Selena Gomez, which is coming back for another season, I think, this summer. So I guess it can't be ruled out, but as far as eyeballs, I would really prefer either Netflix or Amazon Prime, just for the amount of people that can be exposed to it. Right. HBO is not something that buys movies, right? That's a good question. I'm not sure. I'm not sure because it seems like you're right. It's either in one of two camps when it comes to HBO, either it's a theater release that has come over or it's something that they have done themselves as far as an HBO Max production. Uh but I I I agree with that Apple Plus speculation because Ham had that commercial not too long ago um with Apple TV. So, you know, maybe that's maybe that's another possibility.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Hey, Apple, did I do something to offend you? I mean, Samuel L. Jackson, Billy Eilish, I'm Holland, Chris Evans? What about John Ham?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:14

Hey, who knows? That could have been a clue. But the one thing we were discussing is with the streaming services, they want to continue to put out content. If it was in the theaters, they're not necessarily as quick to put out another movie. You know what I mean? They wait to see how it did, they wait to see whatever. Whereas on the streaming services, I feel like while you're watching the series or movie, they're working on the next one.

Jake Parrish 6:39

Well, perfect example, yeah, like Cobra Kai. It seems like we have a new season every year. Yeah. Yeah, roughly about every fall or winter, we have another season, just like you know, regular television series. And if you think about it, it's a 90-minute movie. So I can't imagine them exactly right. I mean, look how long just between Fletch and Fletch lives. What was it, four years? Yeah. So it would be a lot shorter time frame, hopefully, between Confess Fletch and which I'm hoping the next movie will be will be Fletch's Fortune.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 7:09

And I think by going the way of the streaming network, lends itself to more exposure to the film, you know, to the people that might be on the fence, might just come across it, might hear it via word of mouth, and they give it a chance because they already have the network. You know, the movie theaters are coming back, but you don't have to spend any extra money if you already subscribe to wherever it lands. And I'm not worried about the diehard fans because if it's on Paramount or something that I don't belong to, I'm gonna join. It's the people that can help spread the word that are the that are the 80s flesh fans to be like, hey, this new flesh is pretty good. And I think it takes the pressure off the movie to financially hit a certain point to bring on a sequel.

Jake Parrish 7:55

Yeah. And John Hamm, I think, is fine with that. In fact, you and I just listened to a recent podcast interview with Ham, and he kind of talked about how they shot the movie, and there was speculation where it was going to go.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 8:08

That's right. Brian Baumgartner, who plays Kevin on The Office, has a podcast called Off the Beat, and he had John Hamm on. So let's take a listen to the Fletch portion of that interview, and at the very end, you're gonna hear something that kind of led us to believe that we were going in this direction.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Confess Fletch coming up, bringing back Chevy Chase, uh Fletch from the 80s. Was that scary to you? Or are you just excited? For sure. Are you a big fan of it?

SPEAKER_05 8:37

Yes, huge, huge, seminal motion picture for me. Me too, yeah. And Chevy's performance and Chevy's career. He was so specific in his comedy and is, remains, and I think is so particularly good in that film. So, yes, it was terrifying to actually say, okay, we're gonna do it, but not like he did it. I'm not gonna like do a Chevy Chase impression because we already have that version. It's like doing a cover version of a song. Like, if you're gonna cover the Beatles, you better do it differently than the Beatles, otherwise, it's just gonna pale in comparison. So do it differently. And so that's what we set out to do. And we did. It's much more akin to the books, uh, which I was a big fan of. Like I saw the film in 1985 when I was 14 years old. I thought it was the funniest thing I ever saw. And then I realized, oh my God, there's 10 more books. Like, I'm so excited. I get to read all these books, and he goes to Rio and he does this thing, and he does he gets in so many more capers, and it's so fun. And I was like, oh man, like I hope they make all these movies. We decided that we were like, okay, look, we're gonna do this, but we're gonna do it our way, and we're gonna make it a lot more like the books. And if people like it, we understand that there's a whole two generations of people that probably they can rediscover it if they want. And we made a really funny detective movie that obviously shares the same character name and and the same original source material to the film, but very little else with it. But we're hoping that it's um fun and funny, and we got to make it. I mean, we got to make the movie we wanted to make. And Greg Matola, who I've worked with on several projects, I just love his sensibility and his the way he works, and he co-wrote the script. And I was just like, I want to make 10 more of these. So if you want to keep doing them, you'll be in the next one if you want, Brian. It's like, it's like, yeah, you know, like we just get to play in our our fun little sandbox, and hopefully they'll let us do more.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Oh, I am so excited to see it for sure. I was a big fan, and obviously you know I'm a big fan of yours, so I can't wait to see your take on it. When is it when is it out there?

SPEAKER_05 10:53

We don't know. Uh we're it's it's an independent film, believe it or not. Like we made it like an indie, and you know, we have to find distribution and all that stuff, which we're on track to do, but we just haven't done it yet. So we'll see. We'll see. That the good news is there's an awful lot of uh places that that distribute movies now.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yes, yes. Um Top Gun. Um Yeah, Top Gun, however, it will be in theaters. I think that'll be everywhere.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 11:22

Yeah, after after we heard this interview, we all said to ourselves, like, it's going streaming. We were pretty we were pretty sure on that. He mentions Top Gun. I think the delay in Fletch is because Top Gun was just first in the queue, and they had to get Top Gun out first, and then Fletch would follow. Uh but I think but I think this is where we want to be. You know, for more movies to get made, I think is where we want to be. Yeah. And Jake, you mentioned before your your your dream trilogy would be what?

Jake Parrish 11:52

Yeah, my dream trilogy would be Confess Fletch, Fletch's Fortune, and Fletch and the Man Who. But and what's good is I think they're really gung-ho about doing the books, that we aren't going to see original scripts, that these are going to be based on the books, just like some of the other series that we talked about, like Bosch and and um and the Reacher series.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 12:14

Who knows? Maybe if Fletch can really find a home on one of these services, then that's when the extended universe becomes maybe a little more attractive and they go after a property like uh what's his name? Of Flynn. Flynn. Yes, maybe that's where we see Flynn pop up in a series of his own or a future movie or a movie of his own, and they can really get behind the whole world of Fletch and build it into some something great if Fletch's popularity really explodes.

Jake Parrish 12:42

That's a great point. And I never even that never really came into my mind, but that's a great point. That if it is become becomes popular, we could see like a whole you know Fletch universe. Granted, it's not as big as a uh the mythology of like Star Wars or Star Trek or even something like Jack Ryan or something like that. But it would be cool maybe that we live in a world where we do have Fletch movies and we do have Flynn movies. That would be great, right?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 13:06

And if Netflix or Apple TV or wherever we land, you know, that would make sense almost like Disney Plus does with the Star Wars series. Like, you know, you can have the Star Wars movies, but then you have the Boba Fett spin-off, you have the Kenobi spin-off. You you know, maybe you can have a six-episode Flynn series that spins off of Fletch that maybe John Hamm stars in, you know what I mean? And and that crosses him over. You know, obviously we know Flynn doesn't appear in the the books, but maybe they can tie them back together.

Jake Parrish 13:34

Hey, they can always work something. And you know, Fletch is mentioned in the first Flynn book, so uh by name, but that could easily be a cameo as well.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 13:44

And I think that spices it up a little bit because people that know the story, um, they're on their toes a little bit. You know, if you were to throw Flynn into a different book, you know, it'd be like, oh, here's the here's the story of this book, but Flynn is in it as well. So it adds a different spin to it. So you don't really know what to expect.

Jake Parrish 14:02

And a lot of those TV shows kind of play with that too. That, oh, this character appeared in in this, like, say they were doing like a season arc of one book, and that character isn't in that particular book, it's in maybe a future book, but yeah, they ended up putting them in that first series. So, yeah, there's all types of things they can play with.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:22

Yeah, Favro has done an amazing job, Dave Falone as well, just tying the fabric of Star Wars together through, you know, once they've taken over through their mini-series, uh, really have done a great job tying everything together. So we would love to have that happen with Fletch.

Jake Parrish 14:40

So hopefully here in the next couple of months, we'll have some artwork, which I definitely have heard that the artwork is we should have that sooner rather than later. So maybe a movie poster of some type or something along those lines, and then hopefully a trailer. Yeah, that would be exciting.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 14:57

So even though we're on a little break and and like we've teased in the past, we do have a bonus episode coming up soon. So look for that. Well, it's coming, it's coming. But as Fletch News breaks, you can always count on Fletchcast to be your number one source of Fletch information, period. We'll always jump on here to give you our take, and we want to hear from you as well. Special thanks to Greg Matola for trusting us with this information and allowing us to deliver it to you guys first. So thank you, Greg, for that. It was a great, great privilege.

Jake Parrish 15:28

Greg Matola knows that we are super fans, that we are probably, you know, the number one fans in the world. So again, gracious enough to let us break the news. So all the thanks goes to him.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 15:40

You know, and something tells me we're gonna be on here again breaking something else before the start of Fletchcast season three.

Jake Parrish 15:47

Yeah, it's super exciting time to be a Fletch fan.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 15:50

For Jake and Bob somewhere out there, I'm Laker Jim. Hey Jake, what do you say we catch the last 10 minutes of the new dynasty on Netflix? See ya. See ya.