Hacked Sony Email About Genndy’s “Popeye” Found on Wikileaks

As you may have heard – Wikileaks posted all the Sony Pictures inter-office data hacked by North Korea – bundled together as a massive archive of 30,287 documents and 173,132 emails. Amongst the now-public document dump – this particular email caught my eye.

It’s from (former) Sony Animation Chief Bob Osher to (former) Sony President Amy Pascal, dated last November, about Genndy Tartakovsky – his views on Popeye and his relationship with the company. It gives us a little insight on the inter-company struggles to get Genndy’s Popeye made. Here, read it for yourself: 

I had a conversation with Genndy yesterday where he made it clear  that he is concerned that if the studio doesn’t move forward with Popeye that our commitment to animation and to him is not strong. He feels that his original ideas will never get made because of marketing concerns etc. His view is that Popeye is well known and loved around the world and his version will be modern in attitude, dialogue, comedy and action but the physical world should be timeless. The kids in the focus group were strong and worrying about a general audience who rarely attend animated features is misguided. They will come if the movie is funny and sticks to its DNA. When we show the test animation (on-line or in the focus groups) we get a very positive response.

He has been an amazing trooper on Hotel T 2 working through the Sandler camp’s multiple notes, including to his animation choices. I think a word of support from you would be helpful. B 

Popeye had been stalled by the previous Sony Pictures regime – it is still officially being developed by the studio – but will it get finally a green light under Tom Rothman and Kristine Belson’s watch? Stay tuned…