No Simpsons Movie Sequel?

[Diesel]

Apparently making The Simpsons Movie while simultaneaously cranking out the TV series was so exhausting for showrunners Matt Groening and Al Jean that they’ve sworn off doing a sequel to the film at least until the show finally wraps for good - an end date that is (somehow) still undetermined at this point.

Basically, what I’m saying is: No Simpsons Movie 2 for the forseeable future.


Groening and Jean were being interviewed by documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) at a key note event for the Mipcom sales mart, where Groening and Jean will be receiving a Creative Icon Award. Spurlock is also directing the upcoming special, The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3D on Ice, which will examine the cultural impact the show has had during its two-decade plus run on TV. The special airs in January.

Here’s what Groening had to say about another Simpsons movie:

Great.

I am a longtime Simpsons fanboy; everything I know about the world or pop culture I learned as a boy watching tapes of Simpsons episodes I’d recorded. I’ve stuck by the show nearly all of these two-plus decades - long after many others declared it dead. And I was there opening day, first showing, for The Simpsons Movie.

But man… I’ve been watching these new episodes this season and I’ve finally hit the wall: it’s time for this once-great show to be put out to pasture. South Park and Seth MacFarlane’s still-growing Family Guy empire have come on the scene, and Homer and Bart have been left gathering dust. In fact, the truth of this matter was properly skewered in South Park’s now-classic two-part “Cartoon Wars” episode.

To hear Groening and Jean talking this way makes me think they have the total wrong idea about all this: Guys, it’s really time for The Simpsons to be off TV and for the focus to be turned toward giving us, the public, the fans, a few good installments of some feature films. That’s just my opinion, I realize, but I’m sticking to it like glue.

According to Al Jean, The Simpsons TV show is contracted for two more seasons, and after that…

The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3D on Ice will air on Fox Thursday, January 14, 2010.