Adventure Time movie on the way as Warner milks the brand for all it’s worth
In addition to the film—featuring contributions from Rebecca Sugar, Adam Muto, and Patrick McHale—there are also two new AT kids shows in the work
Aux News Adventure Time
Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time has ended at least three times by our count, and somehow managed to stick the landing each time it did it: First, with the show’s emotionally affecting final episode in 2018, and then again in its Max follow-ups, the Distant Lands series of specials, and the Fionna And Cake spin-off series. The show’s legacy and tone—a blend of heart, action, and a vein of pitch-black comedy and philosophizing that keeps the whole thing from ever turning saccharine sweet—has survived these multiple revivals because the people who make Adventure Time are very good at it; they know they can’t just do basic retreads of old ideas without robbing the show of some of its magic, and nobody involved in creating the series wants that.
None of which is going to stop Max and Warner Bros. Discovery from seeing how long they can let that bet ride, though. Per Variety, The House That David Zaslav Merged has now revealed it’s developing not just an Adventure Time movie, but also two different kids-themed version of the show: The already announced Side Quests, about a child version of series hero Finn getting into adventures appropriate for a younger set, and a new preschool-kid-aimed show, Heyo BMO, which will center on the adorable, mildly sociopath video game console. All of these projects, we suspect, will be good: The movie, for instance, is bringing superstar creators like Rebecca Sugar, Adam Muto, and Over The Garden Wall’s Patrick McHale back to develop it, while the kids’ shows are filled with talent from the series’ deep bench of writers.
But the new slate is also of a piece with Zaslav’s recent statements that Warner’s animation slate—which has suffered roughly since Zaslav took charge of the Cartoon Network owner—will now lean much more heavily on established IP and brands that are already bestsellers. Which is a shame, in so far as it’s the kind of environment in which Adventure Time itself—which started as a seven-minute short created by Pendleton Ward, and which was rejected multiple times by Nickelodeon before Cartoon Network decided to take a chance on it—probably wouldn’t ever have a chance to thrive.
No word yet on when any of these new Adventure Time projects will see the light of day; probably worth noting that, corporate anxieties aside, we will watch the hell out of this movie whenever it finally arrives.
10 Comments
The continued Adventure Time media has been high quality, well received, and faithful to the original.Why the snarky “milking” tone to the article? I see you’ve put a name to it, so it’s not one of your AI think pieces.
Because, speaking as an AT fan, it kind of sucks that there’s no room for the next AT to develop. AT’s spirit is adventurous, and these end up being like the 3rd 4th and 5th total spin offs after AT wrapped up. Its difficult not to feel like this is less “We love AT, lets make more AT!” and more “We have no new ideas, lets make more of thing we already know is marketable!” Its also of a piece with the other announcements that WB made today of a new Regular Show and Foster’s Home series, so it looks like they are just completely betting on new versions of old things.
I’m cautiously excited for the results, but its still not a great omen.
“They’re going to milk it for all its worth. … Also, all of these sound great.”There are plenty of other machines to rage against, Hughes. If we can’t have more seasons of Infinity Train, more high quality Adventure Time stuff is genuine good news.
Haha right? “We can’t say this is good outright so we better use snark and negativity to get clicks!”
Well I guess it worked on me, so it’s not surprise it’s the default mode of entertainment media now.
I’m still sad that the final season of Infinity Train is the one we got, and not, like, a good season.
Probably just being negative towards the fact that AT continuously gets resurrected rather than anything new being greenlit.
I can’t blame them, I loved AT, but I am so so tired of endless reboots.
Algebraic!
Sure, why not?NOW DO MOAR GRAVITY FALLS!
GF is perfect how it is, nothing could top the 3 part ending that it got. Better to go out on top.
So I’m guessing the movie will take place sometime between the finale and whenever Jake dies? Also, I hope Fionna and Cake gets a season 2. That show was perfect.