"Peanuts" movie in development for November 2015 release

[Drtooth]

Peanuts Returning to Theaters
Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the gang are headed back to the big screen in 2015 through a deal between 20th Century Fox Animation, Blue Sky Studios and the family of the late Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz.

Scheduled for release Nov. 25, 2015, the untitled animated feature will mark both the 65th anniversary of the Peanuts comic strip and the 50th anniversary of the celebrated television special A Charlie Brown Christmas. Steve Martino (Horton Hears a Who!, Ice Age: Continental Drift) will direct from a script by Shulz’s son Craig Schulz, his grandson Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano.

“We have been working on this project for years,” Craig Schulz, president of Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates, said in a statement. “We finally felt the time was right and the technology is where we need it to be to create this film. I am thrilled we will be partnering with Blue Sky/Fox to create a Peanuts movie that is true to the strip and will continue the legacy in honor of my father.”

The project will be the fifth Peanuts feature film, following 1969′s A Boy Named Charlie Brown, 1972′s Snoopy, Come Home, 1977′s Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown, and 1980′s Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!). The beloved comic strip has also inspired more than 40 animated TV specials — A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving are the best-known — and a short-lived Saturday-morning cartoon.

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2012/10/09/61752/

Now, I'm very mixed about this considering what animation studio is behind it.

I will say Boom has done a very good job with their comic book, keeping the characters completely in tact and pitch perfect in new stories. They're under heavy scrutiny from the Schulz children and Schulz legacy people to make sure of that. I'm sure they'll have a fine toothed comb through the process, making sure that it won't be like every CGI film out there. And I hope part of that is keeping the original character looks as well as personalities.

But I have a mixed feeling with Blue Sky. They have very gorgeous looking movies, but the scripts are usually half done to almost there. Horton Hears a Who I dug, but it felt as schizophrenic as they portrayed Horton in the trailers. Sure, the "anime" sequence was beautifully animated, but made no sense, even in context (odd, since the movie was an analogy of post war Japan). And the person heading this film is the one behind the last Ice Age movie, which had a coherent script (possibly the most coherent of all the films) and a funny villain and crazy old sloth that stole the show, but just lacked something otherwise.

Plus, how is this thing going to get made? Will it be a "Happiness is a Warm Puppy" type film made out of existing Peanuts strip stories?

 

[D'Snowth]

 

[charlietheowl]

I know the Schulz estate is trying to make another big push with Peanuts (I think they relaunched the comic line last year), so I'm not surprised they're trying to make a movie. It's good that they are going to stay involved with the whole process and make sure everything looks and seems right. Hopefully something good will come out of this.

 

[Oscarfan]

Good grief.

 

[Mo Frackle]

I knew this was going to happen at some point.

 

[Phillip]

Interesting that another classic family franchise will see a Thanksgiving release (like the Muppets). More people think about Charlie Brown around the holidays so it makes sense.

 

[muppet maniac]

I know the Schulz estate is trying to make another big push with Peanuts (I think they relaunched the comic line last year), so I'm not surprised they're trying to make a movie. It's good that they are going to stay involved with the whole process and make sure everything looks and seems right. Hopefully something good will come out of this.

As a Peanuts fan, I'm just relieved that they're not going to do a "modernized" live-action adaptation. Can you imagine the horror of how that would turn out?

 

[CensoredAlso]

Heh, hmm, well I can't say I tend to enjoy these attempts at remakes/comebacks but we'll see, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

As a Peanuts fan, I'm just relieved that they're not going to do a "modernized" live-action adaptation. Can you imagine the horror of how that would turn out?

There has never been nor ever will be a live action Peanuts (excluding the two musicals). It's hard enough getting 8 year olds to talk philosophically when reading a script at a recording booth. That's why we have the classic Peanuts delivery. I don't even think most of them realize what they said half the time.

Though, if done right as a sketch or something, it would be fun to see, I guess.

I know the Schulz estate is trying to make another big push with Peanuts (I think they relaunched the comic line last year), so I'm not surprised they're trying to make a movie. It's good that they are going to stay involved with the whole process and make sure everything looks and seems right. Hopefully something good will come out of this.

They seem litigious and involved enough for me to not worry too much about this. The only thing that sounds off is that this is potentially a CGI film, and I doubt the characters would look good at all. They'd forseeably look like animated versions of the Rotocast action figures from a while back. The Schulz estate really should push for a 2-D animated film.

 

[Hayley B]

I heard a little bit about this morning while I was getting up. Kind of interesting. I kept wondering in the past if they would make a live action of them (with Little Rascals and what they did with The Flintstones being on the brain).

I thought Charles Schultz didn't want anyone to touch the Peanuts? While he was alive he didn't want anyones ideas but his own. Because it didn't feel like it was his anymore if he did. He wanted the same after he died.

But it's like why not. They will become forgettable if you don't air or think of them once the next generation comes around. They had it stapled in their minds that "people still know who Popeye is". But it's like nower days Popeye cartoons don't get aired anymore as to back then. So him and anything can be forgettable in time.

So, I'm happy about this. Happy that they are still being thought of.