Will Ferrell Reboots The Flintstones

MovieBob

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Will Ferrell Reboots The Flintstones

Get ready to Yabba Dabba Doo it again

The first (upright-walking) family of animated sitcoms is coming back to the big screen. Longtime comedy collaborators Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy will executive produce a feature-length animated movie based on the classic Hanna-Barberra characters.

Originally airing from 1960 to 1966 before continuing for decades after in the form of spinoffs and miniseries, The Flintstones is arguably one of the most well-known animation brands in the world. A family of cavemen inhabitting a cartoon version of prehistory that parodied then-contemporary American suburban life; Fred Flinstone, his wife Wilma, their neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble and the couples' respective children Pebbles and Bam-Bam were previously brought to the big screen in a 60s 007-spoof The Man Called Flintstone and again in a 1994 live-action feature with John Goodman as Fred.

The last decade has seen multiple attempts at reviving the property in a form closer to its original "domestic sitcom, but with rock-puns" roots, but none have managed to click. Cartoon Network's ambitious, older-skewing Flintstones: On The Rocks [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flintstones:_On_the_Rocks] didn't find its audience in 2001, and Seth MacFarlane's high-profile attempt at a new prime time version for Fox was abandonned in 2013. Warner Bros Pictures is putting the studio muscle behind Ferrell's version.


Source: THR [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/new-flintstones-movie-works-at-702130]

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Buizel91

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Que the "OMG THERE ARE NO ORIGINAL IDEA'S" post....

Hopefully this turns out to be good! Will be keeping an eye on this.
 

CriticalMiss

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I was ready for the worst but if it is going to be animated that is a good first step. Whilst I don't mind the first live-action Flintstones movie the second was pretty shit.
 

Andy of Comix Inc

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arc1991 said:
Que the "OMG THERE ARE NO ORIGINAL IDEA'S" post....

Hopefully this turns out to be good! Will be keeping an eye on this.
I was actually going to say that, but about The Flinstones as just a rip-off of The Honeymooners. And of course The Jetsons is a rip-off of The Flinstones, because Hanna-Barbera are talentless hacks.
 

NotThePANTSU

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I really am surprised the nostalgia-bandwagon is able to continue under all the strain it's had to endure recently.
CriticalMiss said:
Whilst I don't mind the first live-action Flintstones movie the second was pretty shit.
I had managed to wipe that particular turd from the recesses of my beleaguered brain. Oh joy...


By animated do they mean cartoon or CGI?
 

Thaluikhain

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arc1991 said:
Que the "OMG THERE ARE NO ORIGINAL IDEA'S" post....
Complaining about how things are tired and unoriginal has become tired and unoriginal? Huh...
 

Something Amyss

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008Zulu said:
Here I was thinking that it'd be another "Ferrell screaming at random things for 90 minutes" movie.
I'm not sure it makes a difference. If Ferrell is involved, it probably won't be good anyway. Even at "producer" level, I'm sure Ferrell taint will trickle down.
 

Alterego-X

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There are original ideas, it's just that in a world where ideas can be owned just like possesions, their creators suddenly start treating them like their possessions, and commercially exploit their control as much as possible.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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Sep 8, 2011
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I don't understand why someone would think this is a good idea. There's nothing wrong with the original cartoon. Heck, kids in my country are perfectly happy watching the old cartoons like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat etc.
 

Callate

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Flintstones! Why the Flintstones!
They're a franchise we don't care to see
They're not comic bedrock
More a tar pit from prehistory.

Some day,
maybe we can quit this dance
The suits
will give something new a chance

'Till then, here's the Flintstones
Have a load of shitty rock-puns
Doesn't that sound fun?
Two hours of PG slime.
 

Scarim Coral

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As long Seth isn't making it, I given Will the benefit of a doubt for now. Surely his version of it will be better than Seth right?
 

Something Amyss

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Spot1990 said:
I don't know why but when I read that I read it as the slang meaning of taint and that made the sentence really upsetting to think about.
Ew. Ew ew ew ew ewewewewew.

I don't blame you for being a little upset there. I'm kinda squicked now, too.

OT: I'm not saying that there's no original ideas left but in two days Power Rangers and The Flinstones? There are original ideas, great ideas even. The problem is that the people with the money are assholes.
I like the idea of a Power Rangers reboot, to be honest. I would like to see a completely Western version, provided they don't go all grimdark and gritty.

The Flinstones?

Ehhhh....

I mean, this isn't really close to as bad as the sitcom boom of the 90s, where everything got a movie, but the Flinstones aren't really made for a three-act story structure, and few sitcoms withstand the translation. Addams Family did it almost despite itself, and I think maybe Bewitched could be fit into it (assuming a real Bewitched movie and not some half-assed Will Ferrell version), but most don't take well to the formula we expect on the big screen. And the Flinstones are kind of a one-note show to begin with. Amusing in small doses, but hardly the kind of thing I think of when I think "you know what needs a big-screen adaptation?"

There probably are new ideas, but I wouldn't be bothered by old ideas being rehashed if they were good ideas or a good fit for the medium. I think Power Rangers can be a fun blockbuster, for example.
 

Lieju

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Zachary Amaranth said:
but the Flinstones aren't really made for a three-act story structure, and few sitcoms withstand the translation.
Wasn't Flintstones mostly about anachronism and dinosaur-jokes? Anachronisms can be easily updated and dinosaurs are always cool.
I don't really see why that couldn't work as a movie, put some basic plot in there and voila.

It probably won't be brilliant, but was Flintstones ever all that deep?
Not that I think it couldn't be made into a good movie, since it is pretty basic premise and you could have pretty much anything happen.
 

Something Amyss

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Spot1990 said:
The Power Rangers I'd only be worried about because a Power Rangers movie that is faithful to the original show (which I believe it's based on) would never fly as a big budget summer blockbuster. A really good Western could be made but then it'll be accused of not being faithful and just being a half arsed cash grab. A perfectly good Power Rangers movie can be made but actually doing it will be tough.

The Flinstones was never really that great anyway. So as far as I'm concerned it's not like making a movie would destroy it's legacy.
I'm inclined to agree on both counts. Though with the Power Rangers, as long as it's fun, people can complain all they want and I won't care. Actually, I'll be relieved if it isn't MMPR: the movie part 2, but that's another story.

Flintsones won't suffer from this, but it certainly doesn't seem like a great deal either.

Lieju said:
Wasn't Flintstones mostly about anachronism and dinosaur-jokes? Anachronisms can be easily updated and dinosaurs are always cool.
I don't really see why that couldn't work as a movie, put some basic plot in there and voila.

It probably won't be brilliant, but was Flintstones ever all that deep?
Not that I think it couldn't be made into a good movie, since it is pretty basic premise and you could have pretty much anything happen.
That's more or less what they did with the Flinstones diring the sitcom boom in the 90s. And just about every other movie based on a sitcom. And that's what worries me more than faithfulness to the brand or any sort of depth: that their attempts just make it lame. Or lamer, maybe.

I think this is part of why the sitcom movies from the 90s tended to not work: a combination of the formula wearing thin in an hour and mediocre to bad writing. I'm not sure improved writing could necessarily save the movies, though, because I think they'd have to divorce themselves too much from the premise (cheap one-liners) to make it happen.