Pass us the spinach! We need some much need sustenance after hearing this news: Sony won’t be taking Genndy Tartakovsky’s vision of Popeye any further after the director clarified he was no longer working on the film.
The news was confirmed after an interview with Moviefone, where the HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA director confirmed the disappointing news, despite a positive response to the original concept:
“…we put up a great screening, everybody really liked that sizzle, we got a positive reaction. I was in love with what we were doing, but I think the studio is going through changes and I don’t know if they want to make the Popeye that I want to make. So they’ve got to make a decision…It was hard to let Popeye go, but that’s the business.”
Fans of the animated classic will no doubt feel pangs of disappointment if they were looking forward to seeing the Russian’s take on the character, especially after an impressive test animation uploaded to YouTube back in September. Over a million people watch the snippet in less than five months:
We thought it might be a project which Sony may enthusiastically embrace as the animation style is refreshingly different to Disney or Pixar who have been enjoying great success with their latest animation projects in recent months.
There has been no official confirmation that Sony will indeed even look for another director and give the project the project the green light – but we are hoping that they do.
