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Television Media Movies It's funny. Laugh.

Direct to DVD Futurama Movie 224

Posted by Zonk from the fox-listens-only-when-sales-numbers-speak dept.
An anonymous reader writes "In a recent video blog Billy West mentions that a Futurama movie is in production!" From the video: "Good news everyone...there's gonna be a Futurama movie, coming out on DVD, I think we're gonna start doing it soon. There were talks and I guess they're really happy about moving forward with it cuz the DVDs of Futurama sold really well, and then with a possibility of a second one." Already mentioned as a possibility here on Slashdot. He also talks extensively of his new puppet-based project 'Billy Bastard', which will be based on his drunken shenanigans as a band member when he was younger.
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Direct to DVD Futurama Movie More

Direct to DVD Futurama Movie

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  • Slang (Score:5, Funny)

    by michaelhood ( 667393 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:24AM (#13091340)
    about moving forward with it cuz the

    omgwtfbbq will catch on next.. ::crosses fingers::

  • Budget? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by strider44 ( 650833 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:27AM (#13091356)
    I haven't seen the blog but is there any idea as to how big the budget will be for this? Will all the voice actors be returning and will the animation be as complex as in the TV show?

    I'm not sure I want a futurama movie in the vein of Starship Troopers 2.

    • Re:Budget? (Score:5, Informative)

      by lxt ( 724570 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @05:20AM (#13092043) Journal
      The actual cost per episode of Futurama (and The Simpsons) was/is around $1 million for around 22 minutes of animation...
      • The actual cost per episode of Futurama (and The Simpsons) was/is around $1 million for around 22 minutes of animation...

        Which is a crime really, given how unutterably cringeworthy The Simpsons has become. A million dollars for the wacky, wacky adventures of no longer just dumb, but crazy too, Homer Simpson + celebrity guest.

        Time for the "When did they Jump the Shark?" debate?
        • This season seems to be a little better than previous ones. I think the Simpsons have stepped up a little now that they have the beast that is Family Guy to compete against.

          On a different note, Let's remember that $1 Mil an episode includes the outrageous amounts of money paid to the cast... at least, I hope it does.
    • "I haven't seen the blog but is there any idea as to how big the budget will be for this? "

      Cohen talked about this a few years ago and he threw the number $10 million around. That is in no way indicative of what the actual budget would be (mainly because I think the implication was a theatrical release...) but you asked for 'an idea'. ;)

      Wish I knew where I read that. It might have been in an old IGN.com article. He basically said that Futurama would be well suited as a movie because even though it's a

  • Direct to DVD? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by node 3 ( 115640 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:28AM (#13091358)
    How about Direct to Download?

    Futurama is an excellent candidate for a direct to download experiment. It's got geek appeal, has no network time slot, and is an established, legitimate show.

    • Re:Direct to DVD? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Atario ( 673917 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:35AM (#13091383) Homepage
      Download may be ambitious for now. But, hell, I'd even be happy if they successfully pioneered the concept of the direct-to-DVD series. If we had had that just a few years ago, MST3K need never have died.
    • Just because it has geek appeal doesn't mean it gets a pass on things that keep all shows from becoming (legally) downloadable.
      • It's easier to reach the core audience wouldn't you say? Not saying that there aren't obstacles, but if they are going to try making something downloadable a show were the audience knows technology well enough to actually make use of the opportunity would make more sense than releasing the movie version of "Days of our lives" or something.
        • It's easier to reach the core audience wouldn't you say?

          Just because you can reach doesn't mean they'll come.
          Just because they come doesn't you'll profit.
          • That's not what I said either, but there have been talks about providing movies for download (or maybe just Slashdot talk, but still) and so it would make more sense to provide a movie where the audience is more likely to make use of the service, which seems to be the point of the original poster as well.

            • Re:Direct to DVD? (Score:4, Insightful)

              by HyperChicken ( 794660 ) * on Monday July 18, 2005 @02:23AM (#13091550)
              so it would make more sense to provide a movie where the audience is more likely to make use of the service

              What kind of weird fantasy world do you live in? FOX isn't providing a service with Futurama. It's a product that is designed to make money. They'll do whatever they can to make the most money from it.

              "Direct to download" isn't one of them.
    • Everything is direct to download now. In fact, everything is to download weeks before it's to anything else, or even released.

      Oh wait, you mean you didn't have the new Harry Potter PDF 3 weeks ago? Well not me of course, torrents are all blocked here.
      • That 'new harry potter PDF' three weeks ago was a crappy fake made by some obsessive fan.

        The real is of course out now, but it wasn't prior to release date (had it been, it would've been all over the news, and the paid congresscritters would already be drafting new laws to protect old ladies that make $30M+ in a day in book sales)

    • Re:Direct to DVD? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Futurama is an excellent candidate for a direct to download experiment. It's got geek appeal, has no network time slot, and is an established, legitimate show.


      Geeks can bite my shiny metal ass.

    • Doubtful (Score:5, Funny)

      by October_30th ( 531777 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @02:29AM (#13091573) Homepage Journal
      Bender: "Listen you fat internet nerd!"
      Nerd: "Listening."
      Bender: "Your company promotes wrong love! If you don't shut down right now, the only thing wired out of you will be your jaw!"
      Nerd: "You can't shut us down! The internet is about the free exchange and sale of other people's ideas. We've done nothing wrong!"

    • Re:Direct to DVD? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by leenoble_uk ( 698539 )
      I can personally guarantee that following its successful release on DVD about 5 months will elapse before it will be broadcast on Fox/Sky/Highest Bidder's station.

      This is a well rehearsed tactic in the UK. Coronation Street was the most famous example. ITV made a special one-off video only episode of the long running serial, just in time for Christmas. Then in February or March, they broadcast it on TV. They were sued and had to pay back lots of people who bought the video under the impression that it was

  • Must be said. (Score:5, Funny)

    by HyperChicken ( 794660 ) * on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:31AM (#13091373)
    I'm walking on sunshine! WHOA-O-O!

  • Video Blog? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Orgazmus ( 761208 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:31AM (#13091374)
    Oh please, say it aint so!

    Has the word "blog" infiltrated us so deeply that we have to use it on EVERYTHING?

  • oh god, I can see it now (Score:5, Funny)

    by rlthomps-1 ( 545290 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:34AM (#13091381) Homepage
    Direct to DVD? Does this mean we get an uncut version never intended for television?

    *gasp* lets all hope Zap Brannigan's hem line doesn't creep any higher.

    Come Kiff! Hold up my blur circle so as not to traumatize my audience!
  • This is a trend i hope continues as the show is great and I like to watch things when i want and as often as i want in the best possible quality and VHS or even a DVD recorder is no substitute .
    usually i get rather irate with the length of time it takes things to come out on DVD , but straight to DVD removes that problem at least .
    I would honestly prefer a direct download , but the chances of it being unencumbered is so slight that its not really worth considering ,
    And so long as their is no shark jumping

  • Direct to DVD... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ZSpade ( 812879 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:37AM (#13091390) Homepage
    I'm not sure this is a good thing... In the past whenever something went direct to dvd/video, it meant that basically they had produced it on a shoestring budget, for the sole purpose of taking advantage of success from it's prequels... If disney has taught us anything, it's how to run a franchise into the ground. I'm not sure I want futurama's good name ruined in such fashion...

    • Boondock Saints (Score:2, Insightful)

      by JNighthawk ( 769575 )
      Boondock Saints was released straight to video/DVD.

    • Re:Direct to DVD... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Ours ( 596171 )
      Well, in the West direct to video has always been a sign of lesser quality productions. But in Japan direct to video animations (Original Video Animation) is a big thing. It fits well something too long for a movie and too short for a complete series. They often come out in 4-7 episodes on DVD. Some great stuff has come out in that format. Lets hope the West can emulate that success bringing us great content on DVD free from the TV distribution medium where the biggest of masses of viewers is required for a

  • Wooo! Go Bender! Go Bender! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by slackarse ( 875650 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:39AM (#13091398) Journal
    Here's to hopefully seeing a legendary TV series resurrected with a movie, instead of destroyed by one.

  • Not greenlit? (Score:5, Informative)

    by antdude ( 79039 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:40AM (#13091404) Homepage Journal
    From Can't Get Enough Futurama Web site:

    Futurama Direct-to-Video Greenlit?

    Update by [-mArc-]:
    Due to some communication hickup within CGEF, the following had been posted without all information attached. Most importantly, our latest information from David X. Cohen is that the movie(s) have NOT been greenlit yet. So, take what Billy says as a good sign, but not neccessarily as the final word on it.

    It seems that FOX has finally given the Futurama Direct-to-Video the green light. In the first of IGN's exclusive Video Blogs direct from San Diego's Comic-Con International, voice actor Billy West (Fry, Zoidberg, the Professor, and many more voices for many more shows) revealed to us that a brand-new direct-to-video Futurama movie has been greenlit. There is also an option on a second dvd.

    Thanks to IGN for this exclusive information. The information has not yet been confirmed by Matt Groening or FOX itself, so let's just keep hoping ;)

  • Direct to DVD (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Kadin2048 ( 468275 ) <slashdot...kadin@@@xoxy...net> on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:42AM (#13091414) Homepage Journal
    I find it interesting that they're talking about having the movie go straight to DVD. I guess maybe I'm biased, but the straight-to-home-video market was always a very low budget domain. So I'm curious as to whether this will break the B-rated mold. I can't see a Futurama movie doing well in theaters, so I think it's a good move...I just wonder whether maybe that will catch on more generally. I could think of a bunch more series shows that are definitely movie potential, but probably wouldn't draw millions upon millions into theaters.

    Maybe DVD has raised the worthiness of direct-to-home-video in the eyes of producers from the network-made-for-tv ghetto that was VHS. If so, that's definitely a Good Thing.

    • Re:Direct to DVD (Score:3, Informative)

      by starwed ( 735423 )
      It seems that this is (or at least used to be) common with anime series in Japan. They're called OVA's [wikipedia.org], and as it happens my favorite TV show of all time isone. (FLCL)

  • Hopefully this will come out... (Score:3, Funny)

    by JrbM689 ( 896692 ) <Jrbm689NO@SPAMmac.com> on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:42AM (#13091416)
    ...before the year 3000?

  • You knew it was coming. (Score:3, Funny)

    by PakProtector ( 115173 ) <cevkiv@@@gmail...com> on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:44AM (#13091418) Journal

    Professor Farnsworth: Good news, everybody!

    • -Good news, everybody! They are going to put us into a DVD only movie. On the other hand it is not good news at all! It sounds uncomfortable and humiliating. Now if only they could provide the movie in the form of suppository!

  • great news... maybe (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rm999 ( 775449 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:48AM (#13091440)
    This is most likely a great thing - futurama, probably the best prime-time cartoon with geek appeal ever is being resurrected. The reasons why I said "most likely":

    1. the show was starting to get bad around the end. The jokes were less thought-out, the plots wildy random and inconsistent. This could be because the creators knew the show was going to be cancelled so they stopped trying.

    2. Whenever a show is cancelled, the writers and everyone involved go and find other jobs. If this is true, it means that new writers will need to be hired, and the style will likely change (eg. family guy).

    3. Futurama was a great show in 22 minute chunks (the length of the average show minus ads), but will this mean it will make a good 2 hour movie? The southpark movie was too long imo at under 1:30 - it just seemed like a long, drawn-out episode. I am worried that the creators of futurama have gotten too used to the 20 minute plot.

    4. If the futurama movie is indeed bad, it will dilute its legacy. On the bright side, if it's bad I can ignore it and no loss, but if it's good, I will be very happy.

    The good things that may come from this:

    1. high quality version of futurama! maybe even wide screen

    2. If successful, it *may* bring the show back. Maybe even replace the crapfest that the Simpsons have become.

    3. more bender :)
    • I've got to disagree with you about the South Park movie. I thought it was as good as the best South Park episodes, but the slightly slower pacing of the jokes and plot made it a lot more accessible to people who weren't already huge South Park fans.
    • If successful, it *may* bring the show back. Maybe even replace the crapfest that the Simpsons have become.

      Simpsons and Futurama is not mutually exclusive. You don't like Simpsons, fine, but why would you deny people who like the Simpsons the show just because you don't like it? Other than that, I completely agree with your post. :)

      • The downfall of the Simpsons (imo) happened just as Futurama started. My theory? That Futurama took writers and Matt Groening's attenion away from the Simpsons. In an interview with Groening, he said that he put *all* his time into futurama and let the Simpsons be. This led to a huge change in the style of the Simpsons.

        If futurama starts again, I would hope it would coincide with the end of the Simpsons. Unfortunately, Groening has signed on to at least season 20, but that should be the end.

    • Re:great news... maybe (Score:5, Informative)

      by harlows_monkeys ( 106428 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @05:05AM (#13092004) Homepage
      the show was starting to get bad around the end

      Huh? Here are some episodes from the last season.

      • Leela's Homeworld
      • Less Than Hero
      • Jurassic Bark
      • The Why of Fry
      • Where No Fan Has Gone Before
      • The Sting
      • The Farnsworth Parabox
      • The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings
      These are some of the best episodes of the whole series.
      • I agree with the OP. The fourth season was noticeably worse than the previous three, as if all the good writers had suddenly left. As an example take the scene when Bender is pouring toxic waste into the sewers. This dialogue is from memory, but it goes something like

        Leela: Bender, stop pouring that waste into the sewers.
        Bender: Why not?
        Leela: First, it'll piss off the mutants. Second, everything else that's wrong with what you're doing.

        Thud. For me this ranks up there with 'do you know what happens
        • The fourth season was noticeably worse than the previous three

          Um. The last season was the fifth season, not the fourth. And the amazing part of it wasn't the jokes but the amazing character development and actually touching plots. Watch Jurassic Bark and tell me thats not about the sadest thing you've ever seen when that last sequence plays out with the music. Brilliant.

        • The fifth season was the last, not the fourth. And in my book some of the last season's episodes rank up there with the best of the Simpsons (and TV don't get much better than that).

          Particularly "The Farnsworth Parabox" ("There's a woman for you -- always dyeing her hair instead of not looking in a box") and "Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" (the robot devil's song is an absolute classic).

          "The Devil's Hands" showed an amazing depth of character and theme, which makes the ending that much more meaningf

          • There were four seasons made; apparently Fox messed them around and created a fifth season from parts of the third and fourth. 'Parasites Lost' is an episode from the third season, and I agree, it's a great episode.

            There were good episodes in the fourth season, but too many bad ones (eg Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch) where the plot was thin and the humour seemed wooden.
      • Favorite line from "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"...

        Bender: Although you'll have to metaphorically make a deal with the Devil. And by Devil I mean Robot Devil. And by metaphorically, I mean get your coat.
      • Futurama did have its highs and its lows in that last season.

        Personally, though, I'm fine with that uneven quality, since the best episodes were nothing short of amazing. If I can have "Jurassic Bark" or "Devil's Hands," I can live with an occasional "Less Than Hero" or, heaven forbid, a "Bend Her."

  • Confirmed at ComicCon (Score:5, Informative)

    by Subgenius ( 95662 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @01:51AM (#13091451) Homepage
    This was confirmed at Comic Con yesterday (Saturday) during the Simpsons panel with Matt G. Needless to say, the Futurama DVD got the largest applause of the session.

  • Instead of reading articles online, you now have to watch a video to see if the announcement claim is really through, or if it is just a catchy title?

    Now I need TiVo for the internet so I can fast forward??
  • If so, I'm first in line.
  • Which one? BB-65? L-7? HS? MV-2/5??

  • happy (Score:5, Funny)

    by rupert0 ( 885882 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @03:07AM (#13091672) Homepage Journal
    death by snu-snus to us all !
    • Be careful, your wish may come to be true and you may get what you want. In the form of a suppository.

      or as prof F. would say:
      -That is uncomfortable and humiliating! If only it could be administered in the form of a suppository.

  • Great! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by hardcorehowe ( 804753 )
    This is the best nanosecond of my life, no wait this one is, that one was slightly worse, so far so good on this one. Would have been good to see the series return to TV, but any new Futurama material is going to be gold.
  • .. or at least, Joe DiMaggio, the Voice of Bender, in a loft-party in downtown Los Angeles ..

    It was a great party. First of all, the cookies were .. delicious .. i helped myself to a whole stack of them. then, i turn around and hear Bender going 'bite my shiny metal ass', and i think "damn, cookies!?", when .. lo and behold .. there was Joe, doing his Bender for the chicks.

    damn that was a great party.

  • Football (Score:5, Funny)

    by nikconwell ( 38697 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @04:23AM (#13091882)
    Evidently in the East Coast release of the DVD the first 20 minutes of the movie will be replaced by football.
    • In NYC, following the 20 minutes of Football, there will be an hour or "Fox 5 News At 10", and the actual Futurama movie will only play at 11PM.
  • It's going to be live action.
  • YAZBS (Yet Another Zonk Blogging Story)
  • Seems like a good time to mention my favorite Futurama quote:

    Prof. Farnsworth: Good Lord, that's over 150 atmospheres of pressure!
    Fry: How may atmospheres can the ship withstand?
    Prof. Fransworth: Well it's a spaceship. So anywhere between 0 and 1.

    I have to wonder how many (non geeks) watching the show would get that...

    • I particularly loved that one myself. But that might also be due to the fact that I'm a geek that works on submarines.

      (And for once, my sig is on topic)

    • That was one of ther best things about the series, and possibly one of the reasons it didn't have (Fox's idea of) mainstream appeal. Many of the jokes would go way over the head of many people. That said, my fiancee still liked the show, even though she isn't a geek, and missed many of those little cracks.

  • I absolutely LOVE Futurama.
    I bought the DVD set, even after downloading all the episodes.
    Please, please please bring it back!
  • Are we sure the video blogger made that many IQ-lowering grammatical errors or did the transcriber add them as style points?

  • What is WRONG with you nerds? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Chris Tucker ( 302549 ) on Monday July 18, 2005 @02:58PM (#13097225) Homepage
    None of you are asking the most important question of all about a Futurama movie:

    Are we going to see Amy naked?

    And not that lame "from behind so all we see is her butt" style nudity, either!

    Give us full frontal naked Amy!

    And naked Leela!

    But no naked Hermes or Farnsworth.

    Or Zap. Definitely no naked Zap.

    That would be bad.

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