Hello again. Harry here. This, of course, is my site, AICN. I'm setting the Wayback Machine to that wondrous Era of Jay Ward animation. What was fantastic about those old cartoons were the genius of each being about 4 and a half minutes long - and piled full of puns both atrocious and clever. That you would get information, moral lessons, and and education in the absurd - all in 4 and a half minutes. Now, Rob Minkoff - a fantastic animator and director of animation responsible for both TUMMY TROUBLE and ROLLERCOASTER RABBIT for Spielberg and Amblin and Disney. Then he directed THE LION KING which made more money than Christ did in 1994. Then he went on to do both STUART LITTLE films, which were entertaining and gorgeous. Now he's working on THE HAUNTED MANSION - his first Disney film since LION KING, and this time he's working with a genius named Rick Baker - who, btw, makes the good Eddie Murphy flicks... A sign? He's developing all sorts of things, from MYSTERIOUS ISLAND for Sony Imageworks to REID FLEMING, THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST MILKMAN for Warner Brothers to a feature remake of THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE short from FANTASIA for Disney to a film called PRINCESS for Paramount and Robert Evans about the Queen of England's kidnapped canine and its survival on the streets and alleys of the world. He's a director usually attached to family friendly material (which REID FLEMING better not be!) so of course he'd get tagged with bringing MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN to life. The film is set up over at Universal - but they've got a genuine problem to solve in this adaptation.
One - How to stretch a 4 and a half minute skit into a feature film. Personally - I'd recommend looking at the original BLUES BROTHERS, WAYNE'S WORLD as a starting place for how they made that journey.
Two - How to do a comedy - family friendly feature regarding Time Travel which isn't just a repetition of TIME BANDITS or the BILL & TED films.
Three - Well - unfortunately, I don't believe they'll be doing this period - as in, set in the late fifties early sixties as a starting place... Peabody is such an icon of and in that particular ERA. In the period of such proper stiffness and such a period for that absurdity. I've always thought of PEABODY & SHERMAN as being a part of the "Duck and Cover" age - and that's the natural charm that those shorts have that makes them timeless today.
Anyway - hopefully they'll find a very punny screenwriter with a very devilish sense of humor. Personally - this is one I'd prefer if they just left alone.
MINKOFF JUMPSTARTS WAYBACK MACHINE Screenwriter sought; CGI pic may spawn new TV series
Rob Minkoff's Sony-based production shingle Sprocketdyne Entertainment is teaming with Bullwinkle Studios to develop and produce the live-action/CGI-animated feature "Mr. Peabody & Sherman."
