Just because you don't hear about a certain in-development movie for a number of years doesn't actually mean that the project will never end up on the silver screen. Some are just destined to spend a bit of time in what has been dubbed "Development Hell." Take, for example, the Looney Tunes Acme factory film. We first wrote about the feature all the way back in October 2010, but haven't heard a peep about it since. That is, until now.
It turns out that Warner Bros. has been actively developing the new Looney Tunes feature for a while now, and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, they've already assembled a number of interesting names to work together on making it real. Sources say that Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, two of the screenwriters behind Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class, have been hired to write a script for the "untitled Acme movie project." What's more, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the directing duo behind the romantic dramedy Crazy Stupid Love, are currently in early talks to helm the new film, which would reunite them with Steve Carell - who is attached to star.
Acme, of course, is the well-know fictional company in the world of the Looney Tunes that is known for making all kinds of crazy gadgets and weaponry. These products have most often been featured in Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons, where the former uses the Acme tools to try and catch the latter. Unfortunately, Acme would have a pretty low score on Yelp, because their stuff usually ends up being total crap (or at least not very durable):
It's not really a surprise that Warner Bros. is taking this project off the shelf and blowing the dust off. They scored one of the biggest hits of 2014 back in February with the release of The LEGO Movie, and that film reinvigorated the studio's commitment to animated projects. It sounds like the new Looney Tunes/Acme movie would be a mix of animation and live-action, but the same thing can be said about Phil Lord and Chris Miller's feature. Dan Lin and Roy Lee, who were producers on The LEGO Movie, will be working on the Looney Tunes relaunch as well.
Steve Carell is certainly no stranger to family friendly films, having played the lead in the two massively successful Despicable Me movies, but he has also been dabbling in a bit of drama recently. Later this year we will see him transform into a scary schizophrenic starring in Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher, which could end up getting him his first Academy Award nomination (if the buzz is any suggestion). His next feature in theaters, however, will be Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which will be out in the U.S. on October 10th.
