With the original movie’s star recently expressing her interest in a sequel, Thomas Lennon recalls the original scrapped plans for Taxi 2. Lennon and his creative partner, Robert Ben Garant, were brought on to rewrite the script for the remake of Luc Besson’s hit action comedy of the same name, with the American version centering on skilled taxi driver Belle partnering with hapless NYPD detective Andy Washburn to stop a series of bank robberies carried out by skilled getaway drivers. Led by Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah, Taxi was a solid box office success in spite of its critical panning.
During a recent interview with Screen Rant for his role in the upcoming romantic comedy Chosen Family, Lennon was asked about Latifah’s recent comments, in which she expressed her interest in making Taxi 2 with Fallon. The original movie’s co-writer recalled that he and Garant were actually previously contracted to pen the script for a sequel, as 20th Century Fox’s focus group and testing was going “so well that they were positive it was going to be a giant hit“:
So, the amazing thing is that there already was a deal for Taxi 2 in place. Taxi with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon, our rewrite of a Luc Besson picture. Watch the French one if you get a chance, it’s a lot of fun. So, that movie was focused grouping and testing so well that they were positive it was going to be a giant hit. So, Fox was so bullish about it, they’re like, “We’re definitely making Taxi 2. Sign the guys right now to write it.”
Lennon then went on to humorously recall how, upon the first Taxi‘s release, “everyone hated it“, expressing his surprise at the fact it went on to be “such a huge flop“. The co-writer also revealed how his father got him a copy of Roger Ebert’s Your Movie Sucks, which featured the late critic’s bluntly negative review of his 2004 action comedy:
We signed the deal and then Taxi came out, everyone hated it. [Laughs] I dunno how it was such a huge flop. Taxi was so disliked that Roger Ebert included his review of Taxi in his book called Your Movie Sucks, which was his book of his best 10 terrible reviews of films that he despised, and my dad gave me that book for Christmas. “Merry Christmas, Tom.” And it had a review of a movie that we’d written.
Coming back to the deal he and Garant had made with 20th Century Fox, Lennon would go on to reveal that the duo were brought into the studio to discuss other projects in lieu of Taxi 2. Being presented with a handful of options of properties the studio was looking to adapt, Lennon and Garant ultimately landed on Night at the Museum, with the former humorously saying “Taxi 2 did exist, it’s just Night at the Museum.” See what Lennon explained below:
Anyway, so it was testing so well that they made us sign a deal for it. Of course, then, they didn’t make Taxi 2, and the twist is that a week or two after Taxi had failed, we got called into Fox, and they were like, “Obviously, we’re not doing a Taxi 2. So, pick one of these three properties off of the table that you’re going to write instead of Taxi 2. “And the first one we looked at was a little picture book, like a Goodnight Moon-style picture book, called Night at the Museum. So, Taxi 2 did exist, it’s just called Night at the Museum. [Laughs] In some ways that was better. I wrote the frisking scene, I’m still pretty proud of it. I thought it was going to work in my head, and then it did.
How Taxi 2’s Initial Scrapping Impacted Lennon & Garant’s Deal
It Didn’t Stop At Night At The Museum
Lennon and Garant’s attachment to Taxi came on the heels of their success with RENO 911!, with the police comedy premiering the year before, but it also served as the duo’s start of their lucrative movie writing career. Prior to continuing their deal with Fox, the creative team also expanded their writing talents to Disney, penning the scripts for both the Lindsay Lohan-led Herbie franchise reboot, Herbie: Fully Loaded, and the Vin Diesel-led family action comedy, The Pacifier.
In addition to Lennon and Garant, Herbie: Fully Loaded was also written by Smallville and Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with Game Night‘s Mark Perez co-developing the story with Lennon and Garant.
Coming back to Fox, though, Taxi‘s failure didn’t impact Lennon and Garant’s writing careers too much with the studio when they followed it up with Night at the Museum. Though having garnered generally mixed reviews, it was a surprise financial success, grossing over $574 million, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing movie of 2006, and subsequently spawning a trilogy, for which Lennon and Garant only returned to write the second installment, but earned a “Based on Characters by” credit for Secret of the Tomb.
Given Lennon seems to indicate the deal was only for one extra movie, the fact that they not only came back for the Night at the Museum sequel, but also partnered with Fox for RENO 911!: Miami, the first feature-length adaptation of his, Garant and Kerri Kenney-Silver’s cult classic show, shows just how effective of a teaming the studio was with the creative duo.
Our Take On Lennon’s Potential Taxi 2 Return
Lennon & Garant Deserve Another Chance After RENO 911!’s Continued Success
Though the movie may not have been a critical hit, the fact that Taxi grossed over $70 million against its $25 million production budget does leave some room for the possibility of a sequel being made, even 20 years later. Furthermore, the fact that Latifah and Fallon both appear to be open to the sequel, and the buddy comedy genre is slowly making a comeback with everything from Bad Boys: Ride or Die and Deadpool & Wolverine, now seems like a good time to revisit the property.
Arguably the biggest reason why Lennon and Garant should return for Taxi 2 is the continued success they’ve seen with the RENO 911! franchise. Even after taking an 11-year hiatus, the show returned initially on Quibi, followed by Roku to largely the same positive reviews as its original run, with Paramount+ and Comedy Central even having expanded it into two additional feature-length films, which fans of the show such as myself loved. Between the benefit of time bringing lessons learned and Lennon and Garant showing they’ve still got it in the police comedy genre, I’d love to see them get another crack.
