Everything old is new again, as the long-gestatingPopeyeanimated movie has found new life. Animation aficionado Genndy Tartakovsky was originally set to direct a feature centered on the classic character for Sony Pictures back in 2012. After quite a bit of development and work behind the scenes, the project was scrapped. Now, Tartakovsky has circled back to the property and will be starting from scratch with a new studio.
According to a new report,Genndy Tartakovsky, creator ofDexter’s LaboratoryandSamurai Jack, has teamed with King Features forPopeye. When the project was set up at Sony, it got far enough for an animation test to make its way online in 2014, only for the filmmaker and the studio to part ways the following year.
It’s said that Tartakovsky will be starting from scratch, meaning that it will beback to the drawing board. So whatever was on deck for the previous version may be a thing of the past. It wasn’t clarified in the report if this will be a CGI animated feature, or if Tartakovsky will go the 2D route, which he’s done many times in the past with great success.
On the movie side, Genndy Tartakovsky has had a great deal of success. Asdirector of the Hotel Transylvania series, he directed three movies that grossed a combined $1.37 billion at the global box office. A fourth entry is currently in the works. On the TV side, Tartakovsky directed the entirety ofSamurai Jack, as well as episodes ofDexter’s LaboratoryandThe Powerpuff Girls. Tartakovsky was also behind the 2D animatedStar Wars: Clone Warsshorts the pre-datedThe Clone WarsCGI animated series. Most recently, Tartakovsky wrote and directed the limited seriesPrimalfor Adult Swim, which was met with rave reviews.
Popeyehasa long, rich history in pop culture. The character first appeared in a comic strip published by King Features back in 1929. He then began to appear in animated shorts starting in 1933. Since the,Popeyehas been the subject of a number of animated projects on both the big and small screen. A live-action movie, directed by Robert Altman and starring Robin Williams asPopeye, with Shelley Duvall as Olive Oil, was released in 1980.
There is no word currently on who is set to write the new movie, or how soon work will begin. Genndy Tartakovsky is quite busy, as he also has two other movies in the works with Sony Pictures.Fixed, an R-rated animated comedy, as well asBlack Knight, said to be an epic adventure along the same lines asSamurai Jack, are both on deck. It also isn’t clear what studio, or perhaps streaming service, King Features aims to partner with for this adaptation, but it shouldn’t have a problem finding a home. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as further details are made available. This news comes to us viaAnimation Magazine.
