The California Highway Patrol deploys for duty in the wild first trailer for CHIPS, Warner Bros. and director Dax Shepard’s R-rated reboot that takes the classic TV show and slaps on a new lick of paint.
Premiering via tonight’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, the sizzle reel allows us to get acquainted with both Jon Baker (Dax Shepard) and Frank ‘Ponch’ Poncherello (Michael Peña), two new recruits to California Highway Patrol (CHP) that have enrolled in LA’s police unit for very different reasons. And so begins a mismatched buddy cop comedy wherein the wet-behind-the-ears rookie must join forces with the seasoned veteran, but don’t go in expecting an over-the-top romp in the vein of 22 Jump Street or the upcoming Baywatch reboot. According to Shepard – who wrote, directed and produced Warner’s imminent crime caper – CHiPs is more in line with Bad Boys or Lethal Weapon than its other genre contemporaries.
It’s interesting because it’s definitely a comedy where the show is not, but the stakes are very real and the world is real and the physics are real and all those things are grounded. Insane situations happen but it’s not happening in a satire world or a heightened world. It’s a very real world.
With Shepard and Peña at the core, CHIPS also has room in its ranks for Daredevil and Jurassic World star Vincent D’Onofrio as the film’s antagonist villain, Kristen Bell, Rosa Salazar, Adam Brody, Jessica McNamee, Vida Guerra, Rene Moran and Kelly Richardson.
CHIPS has placed the proverbial crosshairs on a March 24 release date, when Warner Bros. reboot will face stiff competition from both Power Rangers and Sony’s star-studded sci-fi, Life.
