![Jim Carrey as Ivo Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) [©2022 Paramount Pictures and Sega of America, Inc.] | The Jetsons](https://dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Jim-Carrey-Sonic_Jetsons.jpg "Jim Carrey Sonic_Jetsons")
The quintessential nuclear cartoon family might be joining the ranks of the live-action re-imaginings after all. Word is circulating that comedy icon Jim Carrey (Sonic the Hedgehog films, Ace Ventura, The Mask) is in talks to star in a new feature film adaptation of The Jetsons, from Warner Bros. Pictures. Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World) is attached to direct and to write the screenplay with Joe Epstein.
Following the success of “the modern Stone Age family” animated sitcom The Flintstones, Hanna-Barbera Productions launched The Jetsons in 1962 on ABC, where it ran for three seasons (75 episodes). Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the series was set in the oh so distant year 2062, and centers on George Jetson (George O’Hanlon), his wife Jane (Penny Singleton), teen daughter Judy (Janet Waldo) and young son Elroy (Daws Butler) — along with their Great Dane, Astro (Don Messick), and robot maid Rosey (Jean Vander Pyl) — as they encounter far-out futuristic versions of everyday family problems in the Googie-styled Orbit City. The show also featured the legendary Mel Blanc as George’s demanding boss, Mr. Spacely. The theme song was composed by Hoyt Curtin.
The show spawned later TV films The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987) and Rockin’ with Judy Jetson (1988), the theatrical animated feature Jetsons: The Movie (1990) and direct-to-video crossover The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania (2017). The characters also appeared in the TV special Hanna-Barbera’s 50th: A Yabba Dabba Do Celebration (1989), in Flash shorts by Spümcø, numerous commercials and in H-B ensemble titles like Harvey Birdman, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Jellystone! The Space Age family also made the leap to comics and video games.
A live-action adaptation has long been toyed with. Paramount Pictures first attempted the undertaking in 1985, before Universal Pictures bought the rights to both The Flintstones and The Jetsons and then released the animated movie. In 2001, Warner Bros. brought in screenwriters Paul Foley & Dan Forman to revise a live-action screenplay, with The Lion King helmer Rob Minkoff attached to direct. Another rewrite was announced in 2003, with musical theater veteran Adam Shankman boarding as director and co-writer. The next year, Sam Harper was revealed as the latest writer. The project was again relaunched in 2006 with Adam Goldberg as scribe. In 2017, ABC ordered a pilot for live-action sitcom exec produced by Robert Zemeckis, which did not go to series.
Amid all this, a new animated take also struggled to get off the ground. In 2007, Spy Kids director Robert Rodriguez was reported to be in talks with both Universal and WB for a CG-animated The Jetsons feature film. It was later rumored that Kanye West had been tapped as creative director for the project, with longtime attached producer Denise Di Novi clarifying talks were merely “exploratory and introductory.” WB tapped Van Robichaux and Evan Susser in 2012 for a re-write. In 2015, the studio announced a new Jetsons animated feature project to be written by Matt Lieberman, and later attached Conrad Vernon (Shrek, Sausage Party) as director in 2017.
Who knows what the future holds.
[Source: The Hollywood Reporter]
