Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams Was Almost Remade With a Marvel Star

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Kevin Costner's Field of Dreams Was Almost Remade With a Marvel Star

As a cinema devotee who has spent countless hours immersed in the magical world of films, I have to say that the saga of Field of Dreams is both heartbreaking and intriguing. Having watched this timeless classic multiple times, I can still vividly recall the goosebumps I got when Kevin Costner’s character heard the mysterious voice whispering, “If you build it, they will come.”

As fans tune into Kevin Costner’s new show Horizon: An American Saga on Max, attention is once again drawn to one of his most memorable roles in the classic film Field of Dreams. Recent revelations have shed light on a planned television adaptation of this 1989 movie that never came to fruition. In the film, Kevin Costner portrayed a farmer who constructed a baseball field within his cornfield, which mysteriously drew ghostly baseball legends. The famous quote from the movie is “If you build it, they will come.” Field of Dreams was a box office success and garnered three Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It has continued to captivate audiences as a cherished piece of pop culture, and in the early 2020s, there were discussions about adapting it into a television series alongside other classic films.

According to an update from The Puck via SlashFilm, a planned Field of Dreams series for Peacock, which had not been associated with Chris Pratt before, was supposedly set to star the Guardians of the Galaxy actor. However, reports suggest that Pratt unexpectedly withdrew from the project. It remains unknown why Pratt decided to leave the series. The departure of Pratt might have been crucial for the series’ survival, as it seems to have disintegrated shortly after Peacock ordered a full series, and no other network has picked it up since.

If You Greenlight It…They Won’t Stream It

The journey to the television series based on “Field of Dreams” was quite intriguing. On August 12, 2021, MLB held a unique game at Field Dreams, which is close to the real Field of Dreams in Iowa, featuring the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. This game sparked immense popularity, causing Field of Dreams to rise to the top of rental charts just five days after the event. Five days following the game, it was disclosed that a Field of Dreams TV show was under production at Peacock. Known for creating NBC series like Parks and Recreation and The Good Place, Mike Schur was set to oversee this project. Unfortunately, interest in the Field of Dreams series waned, and reports emerged in June 2022 that Peacock had decided to cancel it.

It’s surprising yet not entirely unexpected that Chris Pratt is connected to the ‘Field of Dreams’. Given his past collaboration with Mike Schur on ‘Parks and Recreation’, it’s plausible he could have been part of Schur’s planned series in 2023. This project, had it materialized, would have brought together a star-studded cast from Schur’s previous shows, including Kristen Bell and William Jackson Harper from ‘The Good Place’, Andre Braugher from ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’, and Nick Offerman, who also worked with Pratt on ‘Parks and Recreation’. Unfortunately, the project suffered a significant setback when actor Andre Braugher passed away in December 2023.

The Field of Dreams is simply one instance of the early rush in streaming services to produce television shows from mid-budget films, with the goal of creating exclusive content for streaming platforms. Interestingly, Disney has abandoned their plans for a series based on the Witch Mountain franchise featuring Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt’s Jurassic World co-star. In contrast to the 1990s trend of remaking big budget films, the 2020s have seen numerous attempts to rejuvenate mid-budget films as television series rather than movie adaptations. Some examples include Starz’s Dangerous Liaisons, Paramount+’s Fatal Attraction, Disney+’s Turner and Hooch, and Peacock’s Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin. However, as streaming services begin to tighten their budgets, this trend may be subsiding or at least occurring less frequently than during the COVID-19 pandemic when it seemed like streaming was the wave of the future.

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2024-09-01 18:07