When 20th Century Fox released THE SIMPSONS MOVIE in 2007 is was a massive success, making $183 million domestically and $527 million globally, and all off a $75 million budget. Those numbers are terrific for a non-Pixar, non-family friendly animated movie, and Hollywood logic dictates a sequel would’ve been put on the fast track. But 12 years have passed, and we have no sequel, but series creator Matt Groening is more than confident that sequel is all but assured now that Disney is the one behind the wheel.
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While at Comic-Con this weekend Groening spoke about how Disney’s acquisition of Fox means that the studio will be looking for ways to make more money off America’s favorite family and the town of Springfield. “No doubt there will be another Simpsons movie one of these days,” he said. “I think Disney wants something for its money.” (via IndieWire)
There have been talks of a new movie for years, and according to Groening, the reason why nothing has started is that making the first one took such a huge toll on the crew, who were also working hard on the show.
“This is a true answer. The first ‘Simpsons Movie’ almost killed us. We didn’t have a B-team waiting to do ‘The Simpsons Movie,’ so the same people who wrote, animated, voiced and did the music for ‘The Simpsons’ TV show also did the movie. That was in 2007. We’re almost recovered, almost.”
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Back in 2017 producer Al Jean and director David Silverman spoke about the possibility of a sequel, with Jean saying that “We’re thinking it over, but nothing’s happening just yet.…. It’s still daunting because it really knocked the stuffing out of us to do the movie and the show at the same time.”
Disney may be hoping to squeeze more money out of the long-running series, but who is to say what they have planned for the show that has been running for 30 seasons. For a start, the House of Mouse hopes fans of the series will flock to their new streaming service now that every episode of the series will be on the upcoming Disney+. As Groening said, it may only be a matter of time before a sequel is greenlit, and who knows, they may even start a cinematic universe of movies. Comic Book Guy spinoff, anyone?