The future’s about to get a lot more elastic-faced. Jim Carrey is reportedly in talks to star as George Jetson in Warner Bros.’ long-gestating live-action adaptation of The Jetsons, with Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow on board to direct and co-write the script alongside The Idol’s Joe Epstein.
If it actually happens, it’ll mark the latest attempt to bring Hanna-Barbera’s beloved space-age family into the real world, a mission that’s been orbiting Hollywood since the 1980s. Previous iterations have passed through the hands of everyone from The Lion King’s Rob Minkoff to Spy Kids’ Robert Rodriguez, but this one looks the most likely to lift off.
For those not raised on reruns, The Jetsons first aired in 1962 as a futuristic counterpart to The Flintstones, swapping Stone Age gags for space-age satire. George Jetson, soon to be Carrey, if all goes to plan, worked for the grumpy Mr Spacely at Spacely’s Space Sprockets, lived high above Orbit City with wife Jane, kids Judy and Elroy, their dog Astro and household robot Rosie. Flying cars, video calls, and conveyor-belt sidewalks were the height of the show’s imagined tech, though, six decades on, some of that doesn’t look quite so far-fetched.
Trevorrow’s take will be The Jetsons’ first live-action incarnation, though the family last appeared on the big screen in the 1990s animated Jetsons: The Movie. Warner Bros. has been mining Hanna-Barbera nostalgia to solid success lately. 2002’s Scooby-Doo films pulled in nearly half a billion dollars worldwide, so it’s no surprise the studio’s looking to another classic for a revival.
Carrey, who’s enjoying a villainous resurgence as Dr Robotnik in Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, could be the perfect fit for George Jetson’s exasperated everyman energy. And with Trevorrow promising a slick mix of nostalgia and near-future spectacle, The Jetsons might finally be ready for takeoff.
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