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Groening Says The Simpsons Movie Planned

Posted by Hemos on from the ralph-jesus-does-not-have-wheels dept.

Alex T-B writes "Matt Groening in a news conference revealed that a film based on The Simpsons is planned [Woo-hoo!], although no deals have been struck yet [D'oh!]. (WARNING, geeky Simpsons reference: A film about The Simpsons? That is unpossible!)"

21 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. This has been rumored for a while now by 22984 · · Score: 5
    Matt Greoning has been ready for a while, even joking at one point "We should've had 3 movies by now!"

    Here is a link describing all the various rumors and reoprts of a Simpsons movie.

    FYI: Fox purchased the simpsonsmovie.com a few years back. Currently it's just used as a placeholder housing ads for 20th Century Fox films and video releases.

  2. Re:I'll dispense the FUD by thegrue76 · · Score: 3
    Nah--they can do a movie-length plot. I mean, if Beavis and Butthead can pull it off--and let's not talk quality here, let's just talk the ability to pull off a feature-length plot--then I'm sure the Simpsons can. B&B had next-to-no "plot" experience before the movie came out--and the movie held up a plot for the duration of the film.

    The "story" would have to have some Very Special Episode quality to it, of course. Kind of like the Transformers movie--the show itself was one thing, and then the movie came out and Whoa--BIG plot! Big themes! Major cast changes! etc etc etc.. not that the Simpsons would do such, necessarily--but I'm sure there's some sort of Comedic equivalent. (I believe the same sort of thing happened with the GI Joe movie, no?)

    I guess the moral here, is that there's a pretty good history of animated shows going to feature length film, that, well, hey.. I have faith in the Simpsons Crew to pull it off.

    What might be a problem is balancing the need to draw in the average fan and the need to make the Devoted fan excitedly happy...I mean, you know they're going to need to make ALLLL sorts of references to past shows.. they need to balance that against getting the Occasional viewer to have fun with the movie, too.

  3. With money you can buy donuts by FascDot+Killed+My+Pr · · Score: 5

    I hope they get $10,000 for this movie. Why? Because with $10,000, they'd be millionaires.
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    Linux MAPI Server!
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  4. Re:....but....but.... by Nerftoe · · Score: 3

    SNPP.COM has a 1998 interview with Mike Scully, executive producer of The Simpsons. He basically states that animation is the only way to go.

    Here's an excerpt from the interview:
    "It would have to be animated. I don't see how we could ever do a live-action movie as funny as the animated series. The animation allows so many creative liberties that you just wouldn't be able to acheive with live-action. I think it would be impossible for a set of actors to portray these characters. The audience likes to see them the way they are, and if you tried to turn, say, John Goodman into Homer, then it ultimately has to be disappointing to everyone, including John Goodman. Obviously, he could never live up to Homer."

  5. He'll take shortcuts by JasonChu · · Score: 3

    . . . like reusing the backgrounds.

  6. Prediction: by bickle · · Score: 4

    Here's my prediction (if the movie comes out)
    1. Tons of people will see it immediately.
    2. Tons of people will bitch about how it sucked and was nowhere near as good as the earlier episodes.
    3. 2 years later, after seeing the movie a few times, the same people will say that the movie is brilliant.
    4. A year after that, when the sequel is released, tons of people will say that the first movie was better.

  7. You may remember me in other films such as.. by ry4an · · Score: 5

    If Phil Heartman were still able to work his magic for us we'd some day be able to hear, "Hi! I'm Troy McCluer. You might remember me from other films such as _The Simpsons: The Movie_ and _The Simpsons II: More Money For Us_." Though, it's Lyonel Hutz I miss even more.
    --

    1. Re:You may remember me in other films such as.. by zombieking · · Score: 4

      This may be a bit off topic, but here are the film, TV and documentary credits for the legendary Troy McClure. Too bad Phil Hartman isn't around anymore, it would have been great if he was in this movie.

      Movies "Cry Yuma" "Here Comes the Coast Guard" "Preacher With a Shovel" (with Dolores Montenegro) "The Revenge of Abraham Lincoln" "The Wackiest Covered Wagon in the West" "Calling All Quakers" (with Dolores Montenegro) "Gladys The Groovy Mule" "Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die" "Dial M for Murderousness" "The Erotic Adventures of Hercules" "'P' is for Psycho" "The President's Neck is Missing!" "The Boatjacking of Supership 79" "Hydro, the Man With the Hydraulic Arms" "Good-Time Slim, Uncle Doobie, and the Great 'Frisco Freak-Out" "Muppets Go Medieval" (1977 - with Dyan Cannon and The Muppets) "The Greatest Story Ever Hulaed" "They Came to Burgle Carnegie Hall" "Meet Joe Blow" "Give My Remains to Broadway" "The Verdict Was Mail Fraud" "Leper in the Backfield" "Make-Out King of Montana" "The Electric Gigolo" "The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel" (also director) "David Vs. Super-Goliath" (Bible epic) "Suddenly Last Supper" (Bible epic) "Space Mutants VII: Cry of the Space Mutant" "The Itchy & Scratchy Movie" "Jagged Attraction" "Look Who's Still Oinking" "Three Men And A Nuke" "Ten Was Too Many" "The Computer Wore Puka Shells" "The Frontier Family Get Deer Ticks" "The Mediocre Journey" "A Fish Taco Called Juanita" (with Cheech Marin) "Human Fondue - Surviving the Wisconsin Dell's Cheese Factory Explosion" "All the President's Monkeys" "Android Beach Party" "Back to the Sequel" "Butter -- The Motion Picture" "The Cougar and the Polka King" "Cut it Out -- The Wacky Adventures of Jack the Ripper" "Dracula's Disco-Studio Fifty Gore" "Driving Mr. T" "Three Dames And a Dam" (1978 - with Nancy Sinatra) "Saturnforce 3000" "Calling All Lumberjacks" "The Day Paul Bunyan Cried" "Radioactive Man III: Oh God, Not Again" "The Pulverizer" "Radioactive Man II: Bring On The Sequel" "Sleepless in Shelbyville" "The Unbearable Moistness of Sweating" "Coffee, Tea, or Fiddle Dee Dee" "Eenie Meeni Miney, Die" "A Bridge Too Far" (as Todd, the world's unluckiest dentist) "Swing, Swang, Swung" "Three Men and a Bunsen Burner" "Wake Up, Finnegan"
      TV Series "Troy and Company's Summertime Smile Factory" "Buck Henderson, Union Buster" "Handel With Kare" "Son of Sanford and Son" (spinoff) "After Mannix" (spinoff) "Troy McClure's Pre-Teen Soul Machine" "Barnum - The Animated Series" "The Adventures of Achilles" (with Hena, Democratically Elected Princess)
      TV Specials Miss American Girl Pageant (host) "Carnival of the Stars" (host) "Alien Nose Job" (Fox Network Special) "Five Fabulous Weeks of the Chevy Chase Show" (Fox Network Special) "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" (host) "The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase" (host) "Troy McClure's Aloha from Louie's House of Shaved Ice" (Live Via Satellite!)
      Musicals "Stop the Planet of the Apes: I Want To Get Off!" "Trucks" (as Rod, the happy-go-lucky fire engine)
      Cartoons "Christmas Ape" "Christmas Ape Goes To Summer Camp"
      Educational films and the like "The World Without Zinc" "Fuzzy Bunny's Guide To You-Know-What" "Uh-Oh! Here Comes The Metric System" "Lead Paint: Delicious But Deadly" "60 Minutes of Car Crash Victims" "Alice's Adventures through the Windshield Glass" "The Decapitation of Larry Leadfoot" Pepsi Presents Fractions Meat Council film : "Meat And You: Partners in Freedom" "Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun" "Firecrackers: The Silent Killer" "Shoplifters BEWARE" "Designated Drivers: The Lifesaving Nerds" "Phony Tornado Alarms Reduce Readiness" "Young Jebediah Springfield" (A Watch-and-Learn Production) "Locker Room Towel Fight : The Blinding of Larry Driscoll" "Regional Geographic Presents: Birds - Our Fine Feathered Colleagues" (nature film) "Earwigs: Ewwww" (nature film) "Man vs. Nature: The Road to Victory" (nature film)

      --

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      "The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad." - Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
  8. Flashback to Groening in the Middle East... by Curious+G · · Score: 4

    Shopkeeper: This monkey's paw will grant you three wishes, great or small,but...

    Matt: Cool! I'll finally get a Simpsons movie!

    Shopkeeper: Yes, but each wish may carry dire consequences...

    Matt: They can't stop me if I use the paw!

    Shopkeeper: You're not listening! Without Conan or your other old writers it won't

    Matt: I wish...

    Shopkeeper: No! Don't do it!

    Matt: ...that there will finally be a Simpsons movie!

    *whoosh*

    ...Well, I hope it turns out to be a good film, but I'm a little skeptical. Five or six years ago would have been a much more opportune time, and they're not making episodes up to the quality of the old days. But, time will tell, I suppose...

    --
    -- I'll be more enthusiastic about thinking outside the box when there's evidence of thinking going on inside it.
    1. Re:Flashback to Groening in the Middle East... by alexgould · · Score: 3

      Shopkeeper: But it comes with a free frogurt!

      Matt: That's good!

      Shopkeeper: The frogurt is also cursed.

      Matt: That's bad.

      Shopkeeper: But you get your choice of toppings!

      Matt: That's good!

      Shopkeeper: The topping contains Sodium Benzoate.

      Matt: ... ?

      Shopkeeper: That's bad.

      Matt: Can I go sell out now?

  9. Scenes we'd like to see... by Pinball+Wizard · · Score: 5
    Nelson Muntz, 20 years in the future, as a Microsoft employee.

    "Vaporware is a victimless crime. Kind of like punching someone in the dark."

    --

    No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?

  10. unpossible by paRcat · · Score: 5

    What's everyone griping about? Unpossible is a perfectly cromulent word.

  11. I'll dispense the FUD by cvd6262 · · Score: 4
    Do you guys really think that a 1.5-hour-long episode of the Simpsons would be funny after the first, maybe 45 minutes? I'm a big Simpsons fan (I even had Simpsons checks) and I had a Franco-Italien Cinema professor who could go on about the cartitian references and the social commentary in the show, but, really...

    It reality this might wind up like a Money Python movie - a bunch of gut-busting sketches all tied together. Except that, with the Simpsons, one of their best techniques are the subtle plot twists that almost go unnoticed. The episode never starts out having anything to do with the actual plot. (Case in point.... Springville demolishes the Burns Casino, and the episode is about Homer teaching Flanders to live a little.)

    Anyway, I just don't know if a longer, uncut Simpsons episode would really be entertaining. It will be interesting to see what it's rated though.

    --

    I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.

  12. Re:unpossible by gordon_schumway · · Score: 5

    A movie certainly would embiggen the show...

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    Ha! I kill me!

  13. Staring... by NeuroKoan · · Score: 3

    The robotic Richard Simmons.


    Oh my god, his ass is gonna blow!!!




    Double J. Strictly for the . . .

    --

    "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation."
  14. Uh oh... by rob1imo · · Score: 5
    Homer and company have already survived ONE nasty streak of overmarketing -- I'm not sure it's a good idea to try a movie. It could be the death knell of The Simpsons. If they can't do it PERFECTLY and make the movie in any way weak (e.g. The X-Files) the show could suffer irreparable damage.

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  15. Interesting, since... by HMV · · Score: 3

    Groening has had almost nothing to do with the Simpsons over the past few years. He has devoted the vast majority of his time to getting Futurama off the ground and left the Simpsons to others...have you noticed his credit on the show lately? Something like "creative consultant". I know it's always gonna be his baby, but I wonder what role he'd really have in a movie.

  16. Worst article ever! by ryder · · Score: 5

    (In the voice of the comic store guy)

  17. Sounds like wishful thinking by pheonix · · Score: 4

    With a production as large as a full-scale animated movie, I have to say this sounds more like wishful thinking than anything very real. So far it sounds like they have no ideas, no script, no backing, no firm plans, just Matt saying that they'll be doing one. I'd personally love to see it, but my guess is the show will be off the air before there's a chance to do the movie...I've been watching it less and less as it seems to be running out of steam.

  18. Finally, a confirmation! by Nerftoe · · Score: 5

    Simpsons fans have been waiting for this since '93!

    Check out SNPP.com's info concerning the Simpsons movie which has been collected over the years.

  19. Better off without him by gad_zuki! · · Score: 5

    If you've seen the early episodes written by Matt you'll be glad he isn't around. Its not that he's a terrible hack, but the magic of the Simpsons was more or less developed by Fox with their assortment of really talented comedy writers. Remember Matt's Homer Simpson? The stern father? That's not the Homer you've fallen in love with, you love the Jerkass Homer.

    Like all television The Simpsons is a huge production, lots of people and lots of work. Matt certainly is the creator but it wouldn't be fair to call him the author. He's a great figurehead, but the less influence he has the better. I'd much rather see Conan attached to this than Matt.