A Prequel to ‘The Sandlot’ Is In the Works

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – 20th Century Fox is in the early stages of developing a prequel to the 1993 baseball comedy “The Sandlot” with the original director and writer David Mickey Evans scripting the project along with Austin Reynolds.

The studio is keeping the logline on the prequel under wraps. “” was re-released on Blu-ray and Digital HD on March 27 as part of the film’s 25th anniversary and the cast re-united on “The Today Show” and at Dodger Stadium.

The original film was set in Los Angeles during the summer of 1962, pivoting off an adolescent boy named Scott Smalls seeking to fit into a new neighborhood and trying to play on a sandlot baseball team — even though he can’t play. After being humiliated, Smalls is taught how to play by the team leader Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez, and joins the team. The boys  have to deal with losing a ball autographed by Babe Ruth and having to retrieve from The Beast, a savage English Mastiff dog who lives next door to the sandlot.

Fox saw solid success from “The Sandlot,” which was made for $7 million and grossed $33 million, followed by strong VHS and DVD sales. The studio made direct-to-video sequels “The Sandlot 2” in 2005 and 2007’s “The Sandlot: Heading Home” with both directed by Evans. Colin Greten and Daria Cercek are overseeing the project for the studio.

Reynolds’ script, “From New York to Florida,” landed on the 2016 Black List in a story of a troubled teen forced to go on a road trip with his grandparents. He is repped by Verve and Madhouse. The news about the prequel was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.