Another Stupid movie to Overreact to...

[Drtooth]

I'm not going to bother linking to it because I don't think it's possible this is happening, but....

Apparently Speedy Gonzales is going to have his own movie. Just like Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian and Taz (I bet you can see where I'm going with this).

Obviously, the reaction will be...

But at this point....

The Marvin the Martian movie only exists as test footage.

The Bugs Bunny film in the vein of Yogi Bear didn't get past the announcement stage.

Space Jam 2 with LaBron was probably a "The Onion" joke that no one realized was a joke.

And several films were planned since Space Jam but before Back In Action happened.

I don't see this being anything but a future "wasn't there plans for a [such and such] movie back then?" Like the Wacky Races movie from the 90's with Dustin Hoffman as Dick Dastardly. "What?" you may ask, to which I will reply "EXACTLY!"

(though watching Hook I can totally see why they'd consider a movie revolving around Hoffman as Dick).

 

[The Count]

Wouldn't he have been better cast as Baron Automatic as the villainistic foil to Branden Frasier's Tom Slick? That should have been made to complete the trifecta of Tom Slick, Dudley Do-Right and George of the Jungle. Then again, judging by how Dudley flopped, I'm more on the fence as to "meh" that Tom Slick wasn't made anyway.

 

[Drtooth]

Man...I can't remember where I read about it, but it was years ago. Yeah, watch Hook and try not to see Dustin Hoffman as Dastardly. Looks like him, sounds like him, acts like him. It sounds like one of those films that was pitched by "I think such and such actor would make a great such and such character." I don't know if I'm glad it didn't happen or not. Bet it would have done gangbusters in the UK and Japan where Wacky Races is big. I just don't see it being viable here, even if they rationalized it with "it worked for The Flintstones." I mean, I also remember a Live Action The Jetsons being announced in the 90's and nothing happening with it.

As for a Tom Slick movie...ehhhhh... It's not just that I don't think that ever would have been commercially viable, I don't even think Jay Ward and co ever cared for Tom Slick. I've read "The Moose that Roared" cover to cover back and forth up and down in and out, and one of the many things that stuck with me is that the writers really didn't like doing it and felt like it was just there to fill out the half hour of George of the Jungle. One of them even made it appoint to mention that Wacky Races was the more popular use of the concept.

As for the Speedy movie, I am quite happy that all the fake moral panic about the character being not PC friendly was just shortlived hogwash that didn't take into account the very same ethnic group that the character was supposedly offensive to actually embraced him. Still don't see a Speedy movie any more than I see a The Two Unfunny Gophers movie. If we got half the Looney Tunes big theatrical movies they announced we certainly would have seen more than 2 in the span of 20 years. Nothing to worry about.

 

[mr3urious]

As for the Speedy movie, I am quite happy that all the fake moral panic about the character being not PC friendly was just shortlived hogwash that didn't take into account the very same ethnic group that the character was supposedly offensive to actually embraced him.

The character may be a Mexican stereotype, but he also kinda isn't in that he's quite heroic and hard-working. And he's a successful restaurateur if you count his role in The Looney Tunes Show.

 

[Drtooth]

Speedy is beloved for being the anti-stereotype. And most of his cartoons are really good. I'm of course counting the Daffy vs Speedy as the not good cartoons. Who'd have thought two of my favorite Looney Tunes characters would make such awful cartoons? That, being a rant for another day. But yeah, Looney Tunes Show gave the character a new lease on life (and you better believe as a Muppet fan I no kidding almost typed "leash on life" without thinking). Same could be said for some of the other characters in TLS. But giving him Fred Armisen's voice and a more realistic Mexican accent really seems to have brought the character into the 21st century. That's something they should keep up. I mean, they recast the heck out of Looney Tunes characters anyway.

But I still don't see a movie happening. What I'd love to see is a sudden resurgence of merchandising, T-shirts especially, of Speedy on the announcement of this film that won't be a thing. No fooling. A month or so after the Marvin the Martian movie was announced, I saw a sudden manifestation of MtM T-shirts where LT shirts in general stopped being made for several years. Going through the 1990's LT T-shirt boom and then having none in sight since that LT BIA movie flopped, that was a treat. And you better believe I had a crapload of them as a young teenager, mostly Taz. Think I even had a Swackhammer from Space Jam shirt at one point. Hey. It's Danny DeVito.

I've noticed LT merchandise being a thing again ever since TLS.

 

[mr3urious]

The Tetris movie is moving forward, set to release in 2017.

It will be co-funded in China and will feature a Chinese setting & cast in an attempt to pander to the biggest movie-going crowd in the world. Oh, and the founder of Threshold wants a trilogy planned out, with delusions of grandeur rivaling Viselman and Disney.

Someone please steal those hard drives again! And preferably pulverize them with a sledgehammer for good measure!

 

[Drtooth]

...And there's two movies about Atari games as well.

Video Game movies never had a good reception, with the exception of Resident Evil and maybe Tomb Raider. I'd say something about Ratchet and Clank, but it was treated the same as a low turn out TV cartoon film from the 80's in both box office haul and critical reception, dispute it being not bad, but not something a normal person would pay movie theater prices for, and at best wait until it hit streaming. With Angry Birds and Warcraft getting movies as well, the jury is not quite in yet, though AB looks like what a kid's film usually turns out to be.

But Tetris cannot make a logical film. The Tetris company who's infamous for being hands over fists greedy saw dollar signs in someone buying the movie license, and Threshold being a company that made DTV projects based on toy licenses (Clutch Powers is admittedly fun, just don't go in expecting anything greater than a DTV Lego movie) basically did what they were expected to do. Now, I'm sure there's a real good documentary film/biopic about the making of Tetris. There's real story there.

Plus...take place in China? A RUSSIAN made game?!?! Why... of course that would happen....

 

[Drtooth]

While I'm not annoyed beyond belief that its actually happening, I'm not thrilled that we're getting a Space Jam 2. It actually does seem to be in production this time, no doubt because of the infamy and interest the rumors incited.

Now, I personally don't hate Space Jam, but I understand why the Looney Tunes Classic fanbase hates it (though, frankly they hate everything that wasn't pre-1960's). It is a gimmicky movie but it doesn't take itself too seriously (well, the entirety of the film, at any rate), Wayne Knight, Bill Murray, and Danny DeVito are excellent in it (but usually are). I can't hate on the movie, but I just don't see the need of a sequel decades later and even after the Slam remix meme lost relevance. If it helps relaunch Looney Tunes a third time after BIA flopped and we get LT T-shirts again, I'm all for it, I guess.

 

[Mynameisdean]

The Tetris movie is moving forward, set to release in 2017.

It will be co-funded in China and will feature a Chinese setting & cast in an attempt to pander to the biggest movie-going crowd in the world. Oh, and the founder of Threshold wants a trilogy planned out, with delusions of grandeur rivaling Viselman and Disney.

Someone please steal those hard drives again! And preferably pulverize them with a sledgehammer for good measure!

Of course China is involved, because they're the market that seems to eat up mindless action movies as of right now. No doubt Tetris will be just that, considering what they're doing. But, it could be a crappy Pixels knockoff, only with a similar budget.

 

[Drtooth]

Because every time they get a good action/fantasy film, some idiot botches the translation and then they hate it. So that's why dumber films are made specifically for their market, less stuff to translate.

That isn't to say that China doesn't also not like us pandering to them.