Papa Vinyard here, now here's a little somethin' for ya...
It's been 14 years since THE FLINTSTONES' last live-action film, the critically and financially unsuccessful FLINTSTONES IN VIVA ROCK VEGAS (which it must be said Harry really enjoyed), and it looks like America's favorite Stone Age family is coming back to the big screen. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez Productions is developing a reboot of the 54-year-old franchise for Warner Bros. No word on whether the pair has eyed the project as a starring/directing gig (though Ferrell would make a choice Barney), but they've hired Ferrell's LAND OF THE LOST/THE CAMPAIGN writer Chris Henchy to hammer out a draft.
The series began in 1960, and has maintained pop culture relevance through TV specials, comics, video games, theme park rides, commercials, and the aforementioned movies. A Seth MacFarlane-produced update was discussed and discarded a few years back, and there's some sort of weird crossover DTV project with the WWE currently in production and expected to come out next year. It's up there with THE SMURFS, THE JETSONS, YOGI BEAR, and SCOOBY-DOO as one of Hanna-Barbara's most persevered brands, and the iconic characters still find their way onto the toy shelves of many kids whose own parents were probably not alive during the original series run. Giving them a live-action update in the vein of THE SMURFS and YOGI BEAR seems like a safe bet.
However, them hiring Henchy makes me think that they're aiming for a LAND OF THE LOST vibe on this one, despite that film's miserable failure at the box-office. On that tragic update, Ferrell and Henchy sustained a very oddball, mostly-tongue-in-cheek-but-also-genuine vibe that THE FLINTSTONES series had in spades. The subversive energy of THE FLINTSTONES fits way more with their LAND OF THE LOST approach than it ever did with LAND OF THE LOST. Also, that film had a killer FLINTSTONES reference late in the film, so we know they like the property. Which is a plus.
If Ferrell, McKay, Henchy, and whoever signs on to direct can make THE FLINTSONES cutting and wittily self-reflexive again while casting the main characters well enough to make the fans happy, then this could be the best of this whole crop of updates of old animated properties. I'm keeping my cynicism at bay and hoping for the best on this one.
Who do you guys see as the 2014 real-life versions of Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, Mr. Slate and The Great Gazoo?
-Vincent Kim-Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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