Today in "Will Ferrell's Eminently Punchable Face" news: Universal has cut a deal to mount a live-action film based on Sid and Marty Krofft's '70s children's show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Variety reported.
The deal comes after Universal and Mosaic completed production on the $100 million Will Ferrell film Land of the Lost, another property that originated as a Saturday morning Krofft creation. Land of the Lost is set for release in June.
The script for Sigmund will be penned by Dana Gould, a writer-producer on The Simpsons.
Sony is developing a live-action version of the Kroffts' H.R. Pufnstuff and is in talks with director Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2).
Dana Gould is hilarious, so the script has a fighting chance, but that's the best you can say for it.
True, but I find it distressing that he's only being referenced for his efforts on the mediocre current run of the Simpsons rather than the excellent stand-up that got him there.
Agreed, sad to say.
I got to see him a while back as part of a New Year's Eve comedy package, and his stand-up continues to be awesome. Even when compared with comedians like Greg Proops and Patton Oswalt.
What I want to know is, where the hell is my Electra Woman and Dyna Girl movie?
$100 million? Didn't the Krofts have a budget of, like, $100 per episode for Land of the Lost?
How times have changed.
Hollywood solution: Throw money at it. That always makes the resultant product better.
All I want to know is why? Is Hollywood so incapable of coming up with a halfway original idea?
Even our 15 year old comments to us when we go to the movies that nothing seems original anymore. That it is all sequels, or taken from another medium.
"You have reached the end of all plots. Please press rewind and start over at the beginning."
eeee. I was already having a crap day, but MY GOD HOLLYWOOD, are you trying to kill us? !
I have friends that think Ferrell is hilarious. This has made me think of getting new friends more than once.
But I do think the worst part is the continuing need for Hollywood to recycle the past, and subsequently piss on people's childhoods.
It reminds me of that part in the movie "Strange Days" where the protagonist's friend is telling him that the world had better end at the year 2000 because everything had already been done.
H.R. Pufnstuff was live action in the first place - though judging by the acting, only by definition. It was also probably the most evil kids show ever to be shown on TV (though I'll admit there are a lot of contenders for that, I think a lot of those half-hour toy commercials are getting there).
If they do H.R. "straight" (again, only in the loosest sense of the term) it'll be horrible. If they do it in that post-ironic fashion that's been passe for, ooohhh, about the last decade it'll be even more horrible.
Has there actually been anything NEW come out in the past while?
I read the first bit and thought, "Let's see if I can come up with an H.R. Pufnstuf quip worth posting."
Then I got to the end and saw that reality is still two steps ahead.
... apparently this will be the second Pufnstuf movie.
Wasn't Ferrell's character in Jay and Silent Bob actually called Marshal Willenholly in reference to this series?
Bah. I think Ferrell will make an excellent sleestack.