Back in the day, Richie Rich was a glimpse into a fantasy world where everything was at the fingertips of the world’s richest boy, but now that fantasy is depressingly attainable for a lot of other people and always in our faces thanks to unscripted television and social media. To me, that makes the Richie Rich character seem irrelevant but Netflix clearly doesn’t agree.
DreamWorks Animation’s AwesomenessTV has sold a live-action, half-hour comedy series based on the classic comic strip “Richie Rich” to Netflix, which will make the 21 episodes exclusively available to subs in the U.S., Canada and Latin America beginning early 2015.
Richie Rich is, of course, the richest kid in the world. In the new series, after making a trillion dollars by inventing and selling a cool new green technology, Richie moves into a decked-out mansion and starts living the most awesome life ever. The 21-episode series follows his adventures, which include exploring Antarctica, making a movie with his friends and meeting famous celebrities.
This sounds like the Instagram feed of a Kardashian fourth cousin, doesn’t it? Regardless of that, though, AwesomenessTV and Netflix seem to think that kids and tweens will flock to this new version of Richie Rich (which will star Jake Brennan in the title role) and I suppose that’s possible.
It’s easy to dismiss Richie Rich as an adult, but when I was a kid, I remember dragging my father to the theater to see the last attempt at bringing Richie Rich to the masses. I couldn’t explain the whys of my fixation, but it was certainly real. With that said, though, that film was terrible and I regretted my decision by the halfway point. Do you know what else was in theaters at that time? Drop Zone with Wesley Snipes. Do you know what movie I’ve never seen? Drop Zone. To this day I wonder what kind of man I would be if I had had a Drop Zone influenced childhood. There might be a life lesson there, but I guess what I’m saying is, your kid is going to make you watch Richie Rich, but I’m going to rent Drop Zone.
Source: Variety
