The “Peanuts” gang is returning to the Big Screen! Not even Charlie Brown himself could say “Good Grief” to that news.
The announcement on Tuesday of a new, full-length feature set for a Nov. 25, 2015 release has spread excitement throughout the animation world. 2015 will mark the 65th anniversary of Charles Schultz’ iconic characters and so it makes sense that his family would want to do something big (his son Craig and grandson Byran helped write the screenplay and are producing the film).
But there are so many questions that don’t have answers right now:
– 2015 is the 50th Anniversary of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Because the new film is going to be a holiday release could it be a remake, prequel or sequel to that classic TV special?
– If not, what’s the story?
– Since Blue Sky Studios is producing the film, will the characters be CGI? Blue Sky has never done a hand-drawn animated feature.
– What does Blue Sky/20th Century Fox do with the “Ice Age” franchise? “Ice Age 5” would have likely been scheduled for 2015.
– Even though Snoopy and his friends are some of the most popular animated characters of all-time, and their TV specials are loved by billions, they haven’t been a big hit in theaters. The previous 4 Peanuts movies are: “A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), “Snoopy, Come Home” (1972), “Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown” (1977), Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back!!)” (1980) and none were box office successes.
Will fans rush to theaters to see this new Charlie Brown film? We’ll have a better answer to that question when we learn more about the project, but I know I will.