The previous two animated movies that Warner Animation Group (WAG) released didn’t capture people’s imagination in quite the way they had hoped for. The need for a new strategy seems to have been realised as they are planning to make a movie on the ever-green vintage characters.
According to a recent piece in Variety, WAG is currently in the process of developing seven fully-animated features on vintage characters. The new reboot strategy is being supervised by WAG executive Allison Abbate as well as Jesse Ehram and president of the production Courtney Valenti.
One of the films being fast-tracked is a hybrid version of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera’s MGM creation Tom and Jerry, the cat-mouse duo who starred in over 160 theatrical shorts between 1940 and 1967. Tim Story who has directed live-action films like Barbershop, Shaft and Ride Along series will shoot the cat-mouse movie in 2009.
Sources also say that since Tom and Jerry didn’t speak and relied on physical comedy to draw laughs, this version will stick to that style and not cast actors to voice the duo. That decision should also help add to the international appeal of the film.
Besides Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo animated (Chris Columbus as creative producer; Tony Cervone directing), Space Jam 2 hybrid (Ryan Coogler producing; Terence Nance directing), Wile E. Coyote vs. Acme hybrid (Chris McKay developing the film), The Jetsons (Matt Lieberman/Conrad Vernon developing the film), The Flintstones and Wacky Races are the other classic cartoon feature films that have currently got in development.
We can’t wait for the vintage content to make a comeback and induce our nostalgia.