As studios continue to mine old televisions shows for the big screen to mixed results, it’s likely they’re looking at “The Addams Family” as the barometer of success. First based on comics by Charles Addams, the spooktacular franchise became a hit show on TV in the ’60s and ’70s, spawned three movies in the ’90s (two of them hits, one of the a direct-to-video effort you probably didn’t know existed) and spun off both a short-lived animated series and live-action series. And now, MGM wants to make some of that paper.
Variety reports that the studio is now developing a new animated series based on the original drawings by Charles Addams. Wait, does this all sound familiar? Well, you might recall that way back in 2010, Tim Burton was circling a similar project based on the same material that would have seen him put Morticia, Gomez and everyone else through the stop-motion process. That gig never materialized, but perhaps that spirit will still be there with Pamela Pettler (“Corpse Bride,” “Monster House”) writing the script for this one.
So why animated? There’s any number of reasons, but mostly, the kids market is massive and lucrative and as “Dark Shadows” proved, getting this kind material right live-action style and making it a four-quadrant hit can be a bit of alchemy. That said, “The Addams Family” and “Addams Family Values” proved it could be done, but we suppose that trying to top Raul Julia and Angelica Huston is a task few want to attempt.
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