What do Joe Dante, Robert Rodriguez, James Gunn, and Kanye West all have in common? At one point or another, all of them were in the mix to write or direct a live-action version of The Jetsons. Unlike The Flintstones or Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons were never brought to life via live-action, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. Over three decades, the film has bounced across a variety of production companies, writers, and directors, but it has never materialized. With so many names attached, a lot of the details regarding the film are pretty murky, so I thought I'd take it upon myself to go through the history of the project in an attempt to clear up some of the confusion and rumors often said about it. So, without further ado, I introduce you to my most researched post here to date, a comprehensive history of the Jetsons live-action movie.
The origins of the live-action Jetsons film date all the way back to around 1984. Paramount Pictures had acquired the license to make a Jetsons movie from Hanna-Barbera and put the late Gary Nardino to work as the producer of the project. Before anything else could be done, they needed a writer to give them a script, and the man who got that gig was Eric Luke. Luke had just written the Joe Dante-directed Explorers (before you ask, it'll be a while before he actually enters the story), and became the first-ever writer on the film. When discussing the film on an episode of the Best Movies Never Made podcast, he mentioned some casting information. As far as he knew, Paramount wanted Chevy Chase as George, Goldie Hawn as Jane, and Danny Devito as Mr. Spacely. Sadly, details on what would've occurred in this version of the film are vague, as Luke is no longer in possession of the script. However, you can take a look at what the artwork of that script looked like below! You can also see the film mentioned in a Paramount video from 1985!
After Luke finished taking a crack at the film, Paramount moved the project to Alec Lorimore and Terrence Winkless. Lorimore is best known today for his Oscar-winning work producing several IMAX documentaries, while you may know Winkless as the actor who portrayed Bingo the Gorilla on The Banana Splits. This duo was also interviewed on the aforementioned podcast, but unlike Luke, they were able to recall much of what happened in their version of the film, which was slated for a Christmas 1987 release by this point.
They approached the movie as if it was an extended episode of the TV series, with the main storyline revolving around George getting into trouble after a chip is accidentally planted in his head that allows him to use the full potential of his brain. All of the other members of the family would have their own unique storylines, too: Jane entered the workforce, Elroy was preparing for space camp, and Judy fell in love with a new student at school, an alien who just so happens to look exactly like Jet Screamer. Cogswell and the one-time character Knuckles Nuclear also appeared.
This script sounds awfully faithful to the series, but that's not to say it didn't have its divergences. For one, the movie introduced a new character, Mr. Ferrari, who you could describe as the polar opposite of George Jetson. Astro also would've had a completely different backstory, this time having crashed onto Earth in a pod during George and Jane's honeymoon. According to the screenwriters, Joe Barbera was not exactly a fan of this change.
So, what exactly went wrong with this version of the film? More than anything else, it was the budget that killed it. Paramount budgeted the script at $15 million at a time when they were looking at $9 million being the maximum for their movies. Because of this, the film never entered production. After this version fell through, Paramount seemingly made no further attempts to make the movie. Soon enough, they lost the film rights.
That's the end of Paramount's involvement in the film, but the story is far from over. Shortly after that, Universal Studios acquired the film rights to both The Flintstones and The Jetsons. It was this deal that led to the 1994 live-action Flintstones film, but for their futuristic counterparts, Universal decided to take a more animated route. Rather than a live-action film, we were treated to 1990's Jetsons: The Movie and that's more or less where Universal's involvement in the story ends. It's unknown if they ever seriously considered doing a live-action version, and even if they did, I imagine the poor performance of the animated movie put the kibosh on that.
We now fast forward all the way to August 1995. By this point, Universal had lost the rights, and they were now owned by Turner Pictures, the film division of Hanna-Barbera's parent company, Turner. Variety reported that the studio had several films that were looking to be greenlit, and one of them was a live-action Jetsons movie. This version was said to be written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, a writing duo that had scripted Tim Burton's Ed Wood the previous year. It was also suggested that Chuck Russell, coming hot off the heels of The Mask, would sit in the director's chair. Finally, that October, the film was officially announced amongst a slew of other films from Turner. The director and writers were both confirmed to be helming the project, and it was said the movie would shoot the following year for release in 1997. After all this time, the movie finally had a director, but it wouldn't last long.
The details are sketchy, but at some point shortly after this, it appears that Russell dropped out of the project. Turner Pictures soon replaced him with the mind behind both Gremlins pictures, Joe Dante. Dante's hiring was announced in March of 1996, with shooting expected to begin sometime in the summer. Despite the director issues, it sounds like progress was going well on this version of the film. VFX company Rhythm and Hues would handle the special effects of the film, having previously helped out on The Flintstones film. Leon Joosen, who later served as animation director on the Scooby-Doo films, also filled that position here (you can hear him talk about both projects on this installment of the JayBee & Milly Podcast). Steve Johnson's XFX was also helping out as the film moved closer to production. Below is a maquette of Rosie the Robot that the studio did for the film. More info on how Johnson contributed to the project can be found in the book, Rubberhead Volume II.
Though it looked like the movie was finally heading towards shooting, things went sour quickly. In June of that same year, Dante left the film over creative differences, causing Turner to put the project on hold. In October of 1997, news started to spread about the movie once again. By this point, development had shifted over to Warner Brothers, as Turner Pictures was shuttered following the Warner-Turner merger. Variety revealed that month that Tommy Boy director Peter Segal was being courted to direct the film, which at this point was getting a new script from writers Stan Zimmerman and James Berg, writers who have worked on everything from Golden Girls to Gilmore Girls. Variety added that following February that Denise Di Novi, a producer who had worked on several Tim Burton movies, would produce this picture. She'll become something of a main character in this saga moving forward.
After that, no major developments were made until after the new millennium began. In November 2001, Variety announced that Rob Minkoff, a co-director of The Lion King, was now piloting the ship. The script was also rewritten by Dan Forman and Paul Foley. This is where I'd tell you what other projects they wrote, but as far as I can tell, they do not have any credits to their names. Variety did later report that the duo was to write a script for the third live-action Scooby-Doo movie after completing The Jetsons, but as we all know, that too never came to fruition. One interesting tidbit about this version of the film is that Syd Mead, the legendary artist who had done concept art on classics like Blade Runner and Tron, actually did some work on it. Below is one piece of art he created for the movie, which can also be seen in his book Sentury II. I believe a few other pieces he did for the project can be seen in other compilations of his work.
In March of 2003, Variety gave out yet another update on the film, and with it came another director change. Minkoff was out, and Adam Shankman, director of The Wedding Planner was in. Shankman would not only direct the film but act as a co-writer on it as well. Over a year later, Denise Di Novi told IGN that the movie was indeed going forward at WB. At this point, Shankman was still attached as director, and helping him out on writing duties was Sam Harper, who had written the Cheaper by the Dozen films.
This next turn in the story is a minor one, but I thought it was pretty interesting regardless. At some point during the mid-2000s, future Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn was being discussed to write the movie. Gunn wrote in a Facebook post celebrating the 15th anniversary of the first Scooby flick that WB offered him several films based on various Hanna-Barbera franchises following its success. These included not just The Jetsons, but also Jabberjaw and Captain Caveman as well. In the end, however, Gunn rejected the offer in favor of writing the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake.
May 2006 was when we got the next big update on the film, which came in the announcement that the film would be written by the future creator of The Goldbergs, Adam F. Goldberg. Donald De Line also enters the fold at this point. The former vice president of Touchstone joined Di Novi as a producer on the movie. Unlike many of the prior versions, we do know at least one little bit of information regarding this incarnation of the film. According to Goldberg in a 2021 Twitter post, it took place entirely on Earth, which prompted Warner to give him a note stating that the film wasn't "high-concept" enough.
Barely a year later, The Hollywood Reporter learned that Robert Rodriguez was now being looked at to direct the movie. However, the matter was complicated, as Rodriguez was simultaneously interested in directing a film based on the 70s TV series The Land of The Lost. Rodriguez ultimately put the film on the back burner, but it wouldn't be long before his attention was drawn to it again.
In July 2007, just two months after that update, Variety said that the script was again being rewritten, this time by a pair of King of the Hill writers, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky. News on the film remained quiet until June 2009, when Rodriguez gave an update on the film to MTV Movies Blog. He said the movie was in the process of being rewritten, and that they were hoping to start shooting the film by next year. Not long after that, however, the project would change drastically yet again.
This next piece of information was merely a rumor, but I figured I'd include it since there could be some truth in it. In November 2009, the website Pajiba learned that Rodriguez had left the project. WB was seemingly already set on a new director, as it was also stated that the studio was looking at Peter Segal to direct the movie. Yes, the same Peter Segal who was attached to direct the movie a decade prior. Although the validity of this rumor is questionable, one part of it would soon be revealed to be true. In an interview with ComingSoon.net in July of 2011, Denise Di Novi confirmed that Rodriguez had indeed left the movie, as there was a belief inside WB that his vision wasn't a "mainstream studio version." Rodriguez would be the last director officially attached to the film, but our story isn't done just yet.
In probably the weirdest turn of events for this entire saga thus far, January 2012 saw rapper Kanye West become involved with the movie. Kinda. During a lengthy Twitter rant, West stated that he had become the "creative director" of the movie. News of this spread so fast that producers Di Novi and De Line had to come out and state that although they did have a chat with him on the subject, West had not been hired in this position (a position I might add that doesn't exist on a film). As strange as the news was, it seems like it did remind WB of the project, as just a month later, writers Van Robichaux and Evan Susser came in to rewrite the film. They were relatively unknown at the time, but they would grow to prominence later for producing the series Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Then, in February 2015, the film got its most radical update yet. Outlets began reporting that The Jetsons was being worked on once again at WB, but this time as an animated feature. Matt Lieberman, who would later write 2020's Scoob!, was announced as the writer. Details on the film have been sporadic since then, but as long as it remains in the works, it seems unlikely the live-action film will be getting any updates anytime soon.
I do say "film" though, as on the small screen, it's a slightly different story. In August 2017, ABC ordered a pilot for a live-action Jetsons series, to be produced by Robert Zemeckis. Later, in 2019, it was told that Zemeckis himself would direct the pilot, although there have been no updates on this series since then. Is it still happening? Your guess is as good as mine.
All in all, the history of the live-action Jetsons flick spans thirty years, four production companies, and at least thirty-six writers, according to Adam Goldberg. Yes, you heard that number right. I've only shared stories about a dozen or so writers involved in the project, so there's definitely way more to this saga than even what I've shared. Regardless of whether or not this film ever does become a reality, I hope you enjoyed this research into the evolution of the project. I now leave you with the aforementioned tweet from Goldberg, which I feel acts as a pretty good resolution to this piece.
I'M STARTING A VIP CLUB!
— Adam F. Goldberg (@adamfgoldberg) July 22, 2021
Membership Requirement:
Be one of the 36 writers who penned a script for a live-action Jetsons remake!@kanyewest @Rodriguez @elprotecto @EvanSusser @jaredstern @GaryJanetti @zimmermanstan @Karaszewski @aholdenj @stevieb8812 @VanTheBrand @Scottcantype pic.twitter.com/iSl6Kw1knY
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