I just spent the last week hanging out with my parents, so news that appears, at first glance, to be a decade old feels right at home right now. Maybe that’s why I’m not registering complete shock at the revelation that Mike Myers is ready to make a fourth Austin Powers movie, according to a HitFix.com report.
It’s definitely either that or my completely cynical attitude when it comes to Hollywood’s appetite for unoriginal projects and sequels that’s at the root of my lack of surprise.
Anyway, the last Austin Powers movie — Goldmember — came out in 2002, and as The Daily What points out, we haven’t seen much of Myers on screen since then. He’s done plenty of voice work, mainly as the voice of Shrek in that seemingly unending series of computer-animated movies, but he’s only really starred in 2003′s Cat in the Hat and 2008′s The Love Guru, and both were pretty spectacular flops.
Though the Austin Powers franchise hasn’t aged particularly well — it’s not quite as timeless as, say Wayne’s World — I have fond memories of it all the same, and if the first two are on cable now, I’ll typically stop and watch for a little to reminisce about what I thought was funny as a teenager if for no other reason. I even like Mike Myers as an actor.
The thing that’s puzzling here is that there isn’t anyone I know who was clamoring for another Austin Powers installment either now or right after the release of Goldmember nine years ago. The whole thing ran its course quite some time ago — not that that reality has ever stopped Hollywood execs before.
