Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Popeye coming to the Big Screen

Although Genndy Tartakovsky’s first feature film as a director is the upcoming Adam Sandler-starrer, Hotel Transylvania, he’ll quickly turn around and direct Popeye as his second. Tartakovsky is best known for his phenomenal TV series work with a roster including The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars. Writers Jay Scherick and David Ronn (The Smurfs) were attached to pen the Popeye adaptation as recently as last November. 
Variety reports that Tartakovsky is attached to develop and direct a 3D version of Popeye

The famous sailor started back in 1929 when he first appeared in the comicstrip, “Thimble Theater.” Known for his bizarre manner of speech and his borderline addiction to spinach, Popeye is one of the longest-running comics in history. There have been numerous cartoon iterations and one abysmal live-action feature: 1980′s Popeye, starring Robin Williams

Some of the other famous characters from the world of Popeye include the waif, Olive Oyl; Popeye’s adopted son, Swee’Pea, the hamburger-eating Wimpy and the antagonistic Bluto. Sony’s production on a CG/3D version of Popeye goes back at least two years now. The 3D animated feature about the famous cartoon sailor is being produced through Sony Pictures Animation along with Avi and Ari Arad under their Arad Productions banner.  

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