Apr 13 2009Zac Efron Joining Unnamed Boy Adventurer Adaptation

Welp, Zac Efron is reportedly playing Jonny Quest. Disappointing, but not surprising; the guy had been talked about for the role since rumors started that Warner wanted Jonny to be less towheaded child, more dreamy and kissable. But Geoff Boucher at the L.A. Times has also learned of another rumor that does come as a bit of a shocker: the Jonny Quest movie may not contain the name Jonny Quest. What?

Now it looks like the rumors are true and that the plum role is going to Zac Efron, the 21-year-old pretty-boy star who is hoping the action role will help him dance away from youth-pop vehicles and whip up a career-redefining franchise in the Indiana Jones mode. (Dwayne Johnson is circling the project as well and would be the brawny version of pilot and man-of-action Race Bannon.)

I'm more dismayed by news that folks at Warner Bros. are thinking of jettisoning the name Johnny Quest altogether. Why? I hear the thinking is that the vintage animation roots of "Quest" will somehow pair it in the public mind with "Speed Racer," which was a major Warners pile-up as blockbuster films go, considering the investment, expectations and critical reception.

So, as I understand it, the thinking here is:

1. Buy movie right to famous property under the assumption that its name is famous and desirable enough to draw an audience.

2. Abandon that name for absurd fear of association with a completely unrelated project that also happened to be an adaptation of an old cartoon.

3. Also slightly alter the premise so that the child adventurer is now an adult adventurer.

I think I get it. My only suggestion for improving this plan, if they do decide to remove the Quest name altogether, would be to maybe add an announcement to the end of the movie that says, "Guess what, you fools: this was secretly a Jonny Quest movie!" Sort of a final "fuck you."