I can't believe that mindset exists. Yeah, they can watch the show at home for free, but not that particular story (or they have to wait... and people will have to wait a lot longer to see it on TV than buying the DVD).
On the one hand, The Simpsons, South Park, the first Sex in the City, Rugrats, and Beavis and Butthead were all very successful... with the exception of Rugrats, they were able to have a lot more freedoms in terms of censorship. Sot that
kinda helped. I always say this, but I'm baffled by the fact movies based on TV shows when they're current and still popular aren't viable from a business standpoint, but waiting 20 years when they're nostalgic, and essentially throwing away the source material, often turning them into bad jokes... films that inevitably bomb at the box office, are much more fiscally sound.
Then again, there's the aspect of it being a preschool show. Name one preschool show that had a successful movie ever... and it has to be in the United States (Anpanman and Wombles don't count). None of them are. FTB made the most money, but it wasn't all that much. Parents don't want to bring screaming 3 and 4 year olds to the movies to watch something they can sit in front of the TV, and any kid over the age of 3-4 will protest.
Actually, Joey was supposed to write it.
And he wasn't' even aware of it.
Someone didn't contact him and assumed he'd be the writer when the project was in the earliest of development stages. And we all know what happens when you assume.
Unless of course this was all just a rumor that someone blew out of proportion.