Thinking back to my childhood in the 1970's, it was an odd time in regards to what what movies I was exposed to. At the same time my Mom would take us to see
Aliens she would also also take us to see movies like
Benji. Those were fun times and likely part of the reason why I love movies so much.
Netflix, as part of their original content offerings, has done a reboot of Benji. "Reboot" may not be the most accurate word to use since there has been several 'Benji' movies not connected to each other so I'm using it more to signify that it is the 2018 version of Benji as opposed to just one of the old movies being available on Netflix.
Brandon Camp, grandson of Benji creator Joe Camp,
spearheaded the effort to reboot the title and before Netflix they had turned down several studios who all wanted to do their own version. Some of the pitches were for a sci-fi movie, an animated movie, a movie with an "edgy & sarcastic" Benji, and a movie with voice over narration so that the "adults will like it too". Eventually the Camps ended up working with Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse, who has previously done genre films like
Paranormal Activity and
Get Out. Blum wanted to let the Camps make a "Benji" movie in the fashion of the original films and went on to finance a new movie and, based on his prior experience, recommended offering it to Netflix instead of at the theaters or direct-to-video.
I suspect I'll end up watching this one with Mrs. Kevin on a Friday night with some takeout and our dogs by our sides.
Benji will be available for streaming on March 16, 2018.