Warner Bros. is developing a reboot of You’ve Got Mail, the 1998 rom-com starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, with Jason Orley set to write and direct.
Deadline first reported the news Tuesday, and no cast or release date has been announced yet.
(You’ve Got Mail via Warner Bros.)
‘Who Is Making the You’ve Got Mail Reboot?’
Jason Orley is drafting the script based on an earlier take by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. Neal Moritz and Tania Landau are producing under the Original Film banner.
Neal is coming off Beach Read, the adaptation of Emily Henry’s novel at 20th Century Studios.
Jason directed the 2022 rom-com I Want You Back with Jenny Slate and Charlie Day. He recently wrapped post-production on Close Personal Friends, an Amazon MGM comedy starring Brie Larson, Jack Quaid, Lily Collins and Henry Golding.
‘Will Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan Return?’
No casting has been announced, and plot details are being kept under wraps.
Today reports that Tom and Meg won’t be reprising their roles and that the film will tell a fresh story, but Warner Bros. hasn’t confirmed any of that yet.
‘What Was the Original About?’
Nora Ephron directed the original and wrote it with her sister, Delia Ephron. Tom Hanks played Joe Fox, whose family runs the Fox Books chain, and Meg Ryan played Kathleen Kelly, who owns an independent children’s bookshop.
The two are business rivals in person but fall for each other through anonymous emails, thanks to the AOL chat rooms of the era. Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Jean Stapleton and Steve Zahn also starred.
Also read about: The Best Cozy Rom-Com to Watch This Fall, Based on Your Zodiac Sign
‘How Big Was the Original?’
The film arrived in theaters on Dec. 18, 1998, and earned about $250 million worldwide against a budget of roughly $65 million.
It was the third and final on-screen pairing of Tom and Meg, after Joe Versus the Volcano and Sleepless in Seattle. They later reunited briefly in Meg’s directorial debut, Ithaca.
‘A Story That Has Been Remade Before’
The reboot is far from the first retelling. You’ve Got Mail was itself based on Miklós László’s 1937 play Parfumerie, which became the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan.
That film was later adapted as the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime, so a new version continues a long tradition of updating this love story for each generation.
For now, the biggest questions are who will star and how a story about anonymous online romance will work in the age of dating apps. We’ll update you as soon as Warner Bros. shares more.
Looking for more rom-coms? Check out KJ Apa Gets Tangled in a London Love Triangle in Falling.
