Wednesday
30Jul2008
Warner Bros. Plans Marvin the Martian Movie
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 9:20AM 
Of all the Looney Tunes cartoon characters, my favorite
was, is, and always will be
Marvin the Martian. I know some people love the
Tasmanian Devil, and there are those who think Bugs Bunny can't be topped, no
offense to the great Daffy Duck. Having said that, I'm not too thrilled that the
studio is planning to make a feature film centered on Marvin, but only because
of what they plan to do with it. Or maybe it fits better to say what they plan
to do to it.
A sinking feeling sat it when
I read in Variety that the goal was to
make the film a combination of live action and CGI along the lines of Racing
Stripes. Well, as long as you're aiming high, I guess...
As a business move, it makes some sense. Warner is tied
to Alcon Entertainment for the next five years or so, with over a dozen movies
to be distributed by the studio over that period. Marvin has some instant
recognition, although the question about how big that audience truly is deserves
to be asked. But for Warner Bros. it's easier to bring an already established
property out of mothballs than to invent something new.
So why the live action-CGI combo? Four words: Alvin
and the Chipmunks. That gawdawful movie made so much money that it's going
to be the wave of the future until one of them suddenly goes belly-up. Let's
just hope that one movie isn't Marvin the Martian, a fun little character that
at least deserves a moment in the spotlight. Though we don't have a writer or
director in place yet, the story is likely to revolve around Marvin coming to
Earth to destroy Christmas, only he can't because he's trapped in a gift box.
The only thing I can think is he's mistaken for a toy. That's a pretty flimsy
setup if you ask me.
One nugget of good news comes out of all of this: We
learned that it's Marvin the Martian's 60th birthday this month; he made his
debut in
Haredevil Hare, which was released on July
24th, 1948.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Adaptations, Animation | Print Article | Email Article | 2 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (2)
As far as live action/animation goes, you would think that Warner would have learned their lesson with the follow up to Space Jam, Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
Still.
Done the right way, this could be good...
Here's what I'd like to see though:
1. Marvin (and maybe one or two other familiar characters) are the only Looney Tunes. I vote for the Red Monster-like creature, and maybe The Rubber Band. Leave every one else on the shelf.
2. Do it Sin City Style, where it's the humans who are characters in a realistic cartoon world and not the other way around. I think darker, grainier hues work best...
3. Shoot for an older audience. You have to capture the nerds who grew up with Marvin as well as the grade school set. Still, if you assume your audience is 10 it will seem childish and no-one will come (ie, the last 3 or 4 Muppet Movies).
Warner figured out what people want in a Batman movie, and managed to steal Star Wars away from Fox. Maybe, just maybe, they also know what it takes to bring Marvin to a modern audience...
We can hope, right?
I think Cool world had the right idea, about 2 decades too soon...imagine if they remade a flick like that with 300-like special efx? I'd pay to see that...
Wokka Wokka Wokka!