Charlie Brown - the all American, manically depressed, football headed pre-teen - will make his big screen return next year,
it's been confirmed. Fox Animations Blue Sky Studios, the Connecticut based team behind the Ice Age films and Horton Hears a Who have unveiled the new Peanuts movie which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. News of a cinematic return for the Peanuts gang broke as early as last year but no word was released on whether the movie would be animated or live action. It is now known that Charlie Brown and his faithful but flaky dog Snoopy will in fact be transformed into CGI in keeping with the majority of modern day animations and in keeping with previous Blue Sky efforts will also be available in 3D so prepare to part with a few extra quid at the cinema folks. Charlie Brown has been a regular fixture in American culture since the much revered Charles Schulz comic strip debuted in October 1950. Despite initially underwhelming readers it quickly became a must read classic with its razor sharp wit and before long appeared in over 2600 newspapers across the world. Before long Charlie and co were appearing in their own holiday themed movies with the Charlie Brown Christmas becoming an instant hit that has endured for half a century. Whether a 3D CGI version of the Peanuts story will have the same kind of lasting appeal remains to be seen but one has to wonder if the self-deprecating often whimsical style will translate as well beyond the classic hand drawn style of old. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly Andrew Fargo, the curator of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, gave his thoughts:
When youre translating a work to another medium, I think creators feel a need to make sure that old and new fans get an experience they cant get otherwise. If you've got a 2-D comic strip that you can turn into a live-action movie or render in CG animation, its fun to see something that looks completely different than the source material. I love the Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons from the 1930s and 1940's, but getting Jules Feiffer to write a screenplay for a Robert Altman-directed film with Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl? How could you pass up an opportunity like that? With something like Peanuts thats so near and dear to so many of us, Id almost rather see a radical departure like this, since it will draw fewer direct comparisons to the comic strip.
Peanuts 3D is expected in theatres on November 15, 2015. It will be directed by Steve Martino and is written by Craig and Bryan Shulz.
How do you feel about reinventing the Peanuts gang for a modern generation? Is CGI a good idea or a bad idea? Let us know your thoughts on this story below or on Twitter by following @WhatCulture and using the hash tag #Peanuts3D