Paramount Planning Movie Based on Penny Arcade New Kid Strip

[Scott Bullock]

Paramount Planning Movie Based on Penny Arcade New Kid Strip

A classic story of a kid coping with moving to a new school ... IN SPAAAACE!!!

Because having a hugely popular webcomic, an online TV show, an immense expo, and a series of videogames tied to the Penny Arcade [http://www.penny-arcade.com/] brand just isn't cutting it anymore, there's now going to be a big-budget, Hollywood movie based on a Penny Arcade strip.

On Thursday, Paramount Pictures announced that it had acquired the rights to make an animated adaptation of the Penny Arcade one-off comic The New Kid [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/10/29/], which was made back in October. Instead of featuring the usual line-up of Tycho and Gabe, the comic centered around a boy and his father talking about how they are constantly forced to move from planet to planet by his father's job, making the boy a constant new kid at school.

According to The Hollywood Reporter [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/paramount-plots-next-animated-pic-194394], Paramount will be tapping Book of Eli writer (and Gears of War, Star Trek, Futurama, and Duke Nukem Forever contributor) Gary Whitta to write the script for the movie, which will be Paramount's second non-Dreamworks animated film.

No other information is yet available on the film, and it's no wonder; the entire plot so far is that there's a kid and his dad going to a planet where the kid will be the only human at school. Honestly, while Penny Arcade is great, this just seems to be a symptom of Hollywood's "If it's not already a book/comic/TV show/older movie then we won't make it" disease. The idea of a human kid going to an alien school (and, I assume, hijinks ensuing) isn't exactly a new idea [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0229405/], and the existing material is so small that calling any film longer than 2 minutes an "adaptation" of it is really pushing the limits of the meaning of the word.

I'm not trying to take away from the (admittedly pretty awesome) fact that a Penny Arcade strip is being made into a movie, but it seems like Paramount might just be looking for an excuse to slap the words "Based on ... " onto everything it makes.

The Hollywood Reporter [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/paramount-plots-next-animated-pic-194394]

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[LavaLampBamboo]

Sorry, they are making a film based off of this ONE page of a comic? Seriously?

Bloody hell, it's like the Dead Island trailer again.

Didn't they do this in one of their "Three Individual Story Ideas"? Because there was the one about the immortal cowboy (Dust?) which looked really interesting, as well as the one from a while back, Automata, which would have made the BEST FILM EVER.

I'd rather see that, personally.

 

[Megacherv]

I think that's pretty awesome, I wanted to see more of that storyline

 

[Latinidiot]

Out of all the one off story lines there have been in Penny Arcade, they chose this one? There were like 4 of them, and and they chose the hardest one to make with only limited interesting things to happen?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Not exactly a new story is it?

 

[jurnag12]

Meh, doesn't really sound all that great.
Why don't they base a movie off of the Paint The Line storyline? It'd be funny to see what kind of crazy matches they could come up with.

 

[Mr. Grey]

*Too man pictures! They flood my brain!*

Not exactly a new story is it?

And that has stopped Hollywood, when?

Other than that, the pictures you showed were with characters that were quite accustomed to the atmosphere already - save for Calvin, or was he? - not that this kid is any different but he seems to be going to a new school. Now! If you wanted a better example, may I suggest the episode of Fairly Oddparents where they introduced Crash Nebula's origins? A kid from a farm suddenly in an intergalactic military prestigious school?

Either way, I agree. Plenty more examples out there.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

And that has stopped Hollywood, when?

Just saying that the Jetson movie is already in production, last I heard.

Either way, I agree. Plenty more examples out there.

Obviously it won't be anything like this series either.

 

[Mr. Grey]

And that has stopped Hollywood, when?

Just saying that the Jetson movie is already in production, last I heard.

Either way, I agree. Plenty more examples out there.

Obviously it won't be anything like this series either.

The Jetsons have already had movies... a few if I'm not mistaken, but were they theater stuff? That I can't remember.

As for Harry Potter in Space, what am I looking at?! Also - back to the Penny Arcade Comic Movie Thing - how much do you want to bet the character's friend is a small android he keeps in his pocket? Spunky and probably silent because its voice box was damaged early on seeing as it was a toy? Of course it gets repaired by a new friend, yadda yadda. Anyways, how much?

First - I think - and last - fo sho - Captcha I'm doing: Brarti came... why would I want to know this?

 

[Neverhoodian]

Personally, I think one of their other spin-off stories would have been better (Cardboard Tube Samurai, Automata, Lookouts).

Oh well, I'll try to reserve judgement until more information surfaces about it.

 

[PureIrony]

Christ, I remember thinking when that strip came out that it wasn't much of an original concept.
I also remember Gabe remarking that he would like to see a cartoon of a series he made. Its not hard to see why they'd agree to something as... disappointing as this.
Then again, while Penny Arcade is good, its never been original. Their strength has always been in execution.

EDIT: Scratch that. Gabe literally says in the news post accompanying the New Kid that he dreamed of this particular spin-off becoming an animated feature/Saturday morning cartoon. Starting to wonder who approached who.

 

[HydraMoon]

Work on a comic for years. Craft hundreds of story lines. Refine your characters- grow them and solidify their identities. Think about them constantly; 'What would they do if this happened?'. Build up a rabid fanbase with all this work. Research on how to construct a more powerful narrative- put what you've learned into practice. Come up with new ancillary characters to be perfect foils for your creation. Give up time with family for deadlines; give up a new car for a new tablet; struggle to keep everyone you now hire employed in a tough economy.

Sketch out a one-off comic in a day and it gets picked up for a movie. WTF, I would be thinking to myself.

 

[Dastardly]

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And here is where we find out if they can bridge the gap between, "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if...?" and an actual story long enough to create a movie. It's always pretty easy to spot the projects that got started by a "super neat idea," but no one did the work to turn that idea into a workable structure.

Something about inspiration and perspiration, yadda yadda.

 

[Dr.Nick]

Ok...but this isn't even original. I know for a fact that Bruce Coville wrote a short story that's basically the exact same thing like 12 years ago.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Maybe I'm wrong but it doesn't sound like Tycho and Gabe will be involved in the actual production of this.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

While this is interesting news, I am intensely disappointed that they didn't pick "Automata" for movie material.

 

[Frybird]

Well, it's great for Gabe and Tycho, a true archievement.

That said, the idea does have potential, however, as some pointed out, Automata probably did more so. Might work, might not, too early to say.

Hopefully, it will have a bit of actual high-concept sci fi as well as a less cliché, more reality grounded take on the "New Kid in School" thing. Unfortunately, chances are higher it will be a zany "highjinks in Space with movie references and quirky characters" kinda thing.

Still, the whole thing is at least kinda awesome from the "Penny Arcade gets a movie based on a loose concept" standpoint, and thats something at least.

 

[putowtin]

Automata would have been my choice,
or paint the Line!