Sony Developing Popeye Computer Animated 3D Movie

[detective392]

[bainbridge's_stache]

Test footage

POPEYE Teaser Clip (2016) Animation Movie HD - YouTube

[detective392]

Test footage looked good. Kinda looked like claymation mixed with CG instead of full CG.

[Walts Ghost]

I really like the test animation. It looks fantastic. Lets hope the actual movie is this good.

[celticmoon]

I think it looks great as well. Love the wacky animation. SPA is really distinguishing themselves from the rest of the pack in that regard. Now, as long as the content lives up to the visuals....

[detective392]

Genndy Tartakovsky No Longer Directing Popeye Movie

Though an animation test for the long in-development Popeye movie debuted online last year, director Genndy Tartakovsky says he’s no longer involved with the project, which might not even be made at Sony Pictures Animation.

“Popeye we put up a great screening, everybody really liked that sizzle, we got a positive reaction,” he tells Moviefone. “I was in love with what we were doing, but I think the studio is going through changes and I don’t know if they want to make the Popeye that I want to make. So they’ve got to make a decision. Right now, I’m off that project and moving on to the other one that we soft-announced, which is “Can You Imagine?” which is an original idea of my own and a very personal story. It was hard to let Popeye go, but that’s the business.”

Created by E.C. Segar, Popeye first appeared in the already established “Thimble Theater” comic strip in 1929. Introduced as a walk-on character, Popeye eventually became the strip’s star. In 1933, The Fleischers began to produce animated Popeye cartoons which lasted through the 1940s. The sailor man also came to the big screen in 1980 with Robert Altman directing and the late Robin Williams in the lead.

Tartakovsky is best known for creating “Powerpuff Girls,” “Dexter’s Laboratory” and for his work on the traditional animation “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” cartoons. He made his feature film debut helming Sony’s Hotel Transylvania, and is also helming the sequel, which will see release on September 25, 2015.

[DavePS3]

Yeah I dunno about that one. I loved the old cartoons as a kid... the older black and white compared to the color King Features ones. Has Hollywood officially run out of new ideas? Why not do a computer Beany & Cecil?, Milton The Monster?, Top Cat? etc etc etc. Pretty silly.

[KimmyKins83]

I've been seeing quite a bit around abou this & I will most definietly be wanting to see it when it comes out

[stvn1974]

If eating spinach made Popeye so strong why didn't Bluto do the same?

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

If eating spinach made Popeye so strong why didn't Bluto do the same?

Maybe he was allergic...

Seriously though, I think it was always meant to depict Bluto as the stereotypical "brainless bully".

[celticmoon]

Losing Genndy Tartakovsky is a huge loss for this project, but I'm much more interested in seeing an original film by him, so it's good to know that Can You Imagine? is likely to get bumped up on the schedule.

[ZoetMB]

I'm not surprised. Grandparents might take their grandkids because of the nostalgia factor, but Popeye himself was always notoriously difficult to understand and the whole thing always had a 1930s depression-era sensibility to it that would be hard to update, IMO. I mean who cares about a "sailor man" today?

You would not get 18 to 30 years olds in to see this move and that's who attends today. And it might not go over too well in China, which now exceeds the U.S. domestic market for U.S. films. The reality has become for any film with a relatively large budget is that if it's not going to sell well in China, it's not going to get made.

And while Robert Altman's take from 1980 with Robin Williams, Ray Walston and Shelly Duvall (with a cameo from Beatles associate, Revolver cover artist and Plastic Ono Band member Klaus Voorman) was weird and wonderful (although only a 5.1/10 rating on IMDB), it was not commercially successful.

[Falaskan]

I'd rather see a live action modern day version. poo

[detective392]

Sony Pictures Animation’s Popeye Lands Ratchet and Clank Writer

In March of last year, director Genndy Tartakovsky (the Hotel Transylvania movies) left Sony Pictures Animation‘s Popeye feature film due to a regime change at the studio that did not support his vision. Despite losing their director, the studio remains committed to making a Popeye movie, and has proven as such by bringing aboard a new writer in the form of T.J. (Todd) Fixman, best known as a central creative force behind Insomniac Games’ Ratchet and Clank video game franchise as well as writing the upcoming movie which opens in April. A hot screenwriter around town, Fixman also recently signed a deal with Hasbro to help develop their new film slate.

Created by E.C. Segar, Popeye first appeared in the already-established “Thimble Theater” comic strip in 1929. Introduced as a walk-on character, Popeye eventually became the strip’s star. In 1933, The Fleischers began to produce animated Popeye cartoons which lasted through the 1940s. The sailor man also came to the big screen in 1980 with Robert Altman directing and the late Robin Williams in the lead.

Before he left the project, Tartakovsky posted his demo reel for Popeye, which you can view below. Do you hope Sony Pictures Animation continues along the path that Tartakovsky started, or should they take a new direction? Let us know in the comments below!

[CyberpunkCentral]

And it's back on track.

[Dragon78]

Yes, but is Tartakovsky still attached to the project?

[CyberpunkCentral]

Originally Posted by Dragon78

Yes, but is Tartakovsky still attached to the project?

Yup.

[Mikezilla3k]

Didn't they cancel this for The Emoji Movie?