Amid Amidi reports on his Cartoon Brew website about Disney’s plans to produce a 2016 animated feature about a fox and rabbit “odd couple” in a world of talking animals. Let’s hope this gets farther than Silly Hillbillies on Mars. (Hey, Disney, whatever happened to that?)
Fred Patten, Disney promises “odd couple” furry flick ‘Zootopia’ in 2016
Not all furry movies can be Zootopia, with its combination of critical acclaim, box office success and industry awards. However, not all furry movies can be, period. Sometimes, a movie gets announced, and then never actually makes it to theaters (or even home video or streaming services).
Flayrah has covered quite a few movie announcements, some quite early in development, and while sometimes an early article on “Zootopia (working title)” or Master P: Kung-Fu Panda leads to furry greatness, sometimes it leads nowhere. The following is a list of such movies covered by Flayrah at least up until 2020. And who knows, maybe some of them will slip out of development hell and finally become real movies!
Note: Expect a lot of dead links in the older archived articles listed below.
Elfquest
There seems to be a pretty big cross-over between Elfquest and furry fans, so I picked this one up off SF Wire: the Elfquest animated movie is slowly making headway. Check out the link for details.
Micah, Elfquest Movie in Late 2002
Needless to say, this did not come out in 2002. It lingered on as a possibility for the rest of the decade, but ultimately never came to fruition. The independent comic series Elfquest is also not as big a thing as it once was, though new comics were created for it as recently as 2019, so good on the series for that.
Wolves
I did my scan of mentions of animation films in development but didn’t find this one anywhere so it must be EARLY in the cycle.
Flint, Wolves Animated Movie in Early development
The incredibly generic name, plus the fact that DreamWorks has been using a lot of wolf characters recently, make this hard to find anything on. As the main link is dead, this is pretty much the only evidence I can find this was even considered as a film at one point.
Dragon’s Lair
I sometimes wonder if Mr Bluth has more lives than a cat but considering its Dragon’s Lair, I’ll hope for the best. After all, the last time Bluth was truly out on his own he somehow managed to come up with Secret of NIMH.
Flint, Don Bluth’s Dragon Lair Film
An adaptation of the video game Dragon’s Lair has been rumored since it first came out, especially as its more remembered for its animated art style from Don Bluth than its actual gameplay. Bluth tried for the crowd sourcing route in the 2010s, but that went nowhere, while Netflix announced a possible live action adaptation this decade, which kind of seems to miss the point.
The Centaur
The script is described as a romantic fable about a woman who falls in love with a seemingly perfect man, only to discover that he is a centaur (half-man/half-horse) brought to mortal life through the aid of magical potion.
yahoo.com, New Line Cinema buys Centaur movie script
This one’s also disappeared into the mists of times.
The Last Unicorn
Now The Last Unicorn will be soon a magical fantasy film – a complete new re-creation of the novel, newly rewritten for the screen by Peter S. Beagle. A worldwide movie event with outstanding actors, fantastic sets and locations, wildlife, and trained animals, seamlessly blended with computer-created, realistic creatures and fantasy worlds. We call it Magical Realism.
The-Last-Unicorn.net, The Last Unicorn, The Movie, reported to premiere in 2003
Trying to do the live action remake of a beloved animated film before Disney made it uncool, this one is probably not only dead in the water, but probably better off dead. Author Peter S. Beagle would eventually become involved in a rather nasty lawsuit with the man who became his agent around this time (which Beagle eventually won), and though it wasn’t directly about this movie, it probably killed off any chance of it happening.
The Wind in the Willows
Corey May, Michael “Dooma” Wendschuh and Baruch Inbar had the luck many closet scriptwriters only dream of. Disney saw their idea for a new Wind in the Willows film, and bought the look and treatment, as well as the kids as “Executive producers”, for a six figure sum. Based on a colaboation of May and Wendschuh, two film graduates, and the artistic vision of Inbar, an art school sculputor, the new vision gives the old story a “Jules Verne-influenced sensibility” and will be live action with either computer animated characters or CGI-enhanced costumed actors.
MelSkunk, Film students win when Disney grabs rights to new “Wind in the Willows” concept
I originally suspected Disney of possibly buying this project to protect their own version, but according to Wikipedia, it almost was helmed by Guillermo del Toro, whose explanation for what happened is perhaps less evil, but definitely stupider. “It was a beautiful book, and then I went to meet with the executives and they said, ‘Could you give Toad a skateboard and make him say, “radical dude” things?’ and that’s when I said, ‘It’s been a pleasure …'”
Schnozz
The picture concerns a crossbreed mutt and the coterie of rejected animals he meets as he attempts to follow in the footsteps of his famous police dog father. “Schnozz” was created by U.K. illustrator and character designer Gary Chapman and written by Jordan Katz.
Yahoo News, “Schnozz,” from the producer of “Shrek”
This went absolutely nowhere (confidential to DreamWorks, but if you had pitched a bunny cop, it would have been box office gold).
Herobear & the Kid
Universal Pictures plans to animate Astonish Comics’ “Herobear and The Kid” as a feature film.
Rigel, Universal To Animate ‘Herobear & The Kid’
Though the Herobear & the Kid comic is still sporadically published, it never got off the ground as a movie.
Space Monkeys
For some reason, Hollywood still thinks that monkeys are funny. Thus, Dreamworks has picked up the project ‘Space Monkeys’ for animation, about a group of NASA test monkeys in the 1950’s. Yay.
Rigel, Dreamworks Picks Up ‘Space Monkey’
I originally thought this was an early version of the 2008 movie Space Chimps that drifted away from DreamWorks’s orbit, but apparently this is a similar, but indepedent idea that was floating around at the time, though Space Chimps‘s existence may be partially responsible for Space Monkeys‘s non-existence (and if it is, well, serves DreamWorks right).
Danger Mouse
According to the fan site “Cosgrove Hall Ate My Brain”, and 3D World Magazine, there is a new DangerMouse feature length film in the works. It still seems to be in the planning stages, though.
PunkTiger, New DangerMouse Film in the Works!
The contributor to this story points out the primary source itself may not be very reliable, so there doesn’t seem to be a lot of evidence that the 1980s British television cartoon Danger Mouse was ever realistically considered for a feature film, other than the general observation that most IP has been at some point considered for an adaptation. The show was given a reboot in 2015, however, so it’s not an entirely dead franchise.
Untitled Angelina Jolie werewolf movie
Hollywood movie star Angelina Jolie, well known for her taste for the macabre, is planning to don werewolf garb for her next film role, industry sources said on Tuesday.
Anon, Angelina Jolie turns into a werewolf
This is the most obscure reference on this list. Angelina Jolie has neither ever played, nor co-starred with, a werewolf. Over half the Flayrah article is the editor complaining in a note they had to chop it down after the submitter just copy and pasted the entire article from another source, which is, from a journalistic perspective, yes, questionable, but in hindsight would probably have given me more of an idea of what this movie was supposed to be.
Outfoxed
Set in the world of English fox hunting, the story follows the adventures of a fox wrongly accused of killing the pet of a wealthy matron. To catch the cunning and elusive fox, the local hunt club enlists the skills of a tenacious and determined American foxhound. The fox must avoid being caught by the foxhound long enough to prove his innocence and ensure the safety of his fellow foxes.
Anon, Outfoxed
This sounds like it could have been a fun movie, but it seems to not have gone much farther than the script being bought.
Wolf: The Animated Film
However, someone had been watching the death and destruction all through the ages. Enough was enough; Change was to happen, and it would begin in the most unlikely of places. This is the story of that change. This is the story of ‘Wolf’.
Silver Sky Studio, Wolf – The Animated Film
An infamous example of biting off way, way, way, way more than you can chew, this insanely independent, “volunteer” production has been around for over two decades now (I believe it was featured on Portal of Evil at one point) and it still is in a permanent status of “coming soon”. You can still visit Silver Sky Studio’s YouTube page and see some behind the scenes video (the youngest is 8 years old) or the studio’s home page, where the News section will make you never complain about Flayrah‘s refresh rate ever again.
American Dog
Publicity art has just been released on Disney’s forthcoming “American Dog”, by Chris “Lilo & Stitch” Sanders. It looks great!
Fred, Chris Sanders’ “American Dog”
Oof. This one hurts a bit, perhaps even more so that it technically did come out. What was originally American Dog is what we now know and love (or at least have mixed feelings about) as Bolt. The behind the seems shenanigans saw John Lasseter wresting control of the movie from Chris Sanders in what was already becoming one of Lasseter’s awful go-too behind the scenes moves (which sadly isn’t even his most awful go-to behind the scenes move). It kind of all worked out in the end; Chris Sanders went to DreamWorks and gave us How To Train Your Dragon, The Wild Robot and also The Croods, Bolt launched the career of one Byron Howard, and John Lasseter got fired in the end.
Magic Time
Science fiction writer Marc Zicree (Babylon 5, Sliders, Star Trek:Enterprise, Twilight Zone Companion) has progressed further towards getting his science fiction tranformation book trilogy Magic Time into a live action form.
kayoteq, ‘Magic Time’ books nearer to live action
It doesn’t seem that Zicree has had any luck getting an adaptation made. I’m also not sure how really furry the novels (which seem to all have co-writers) are, either. They seem marginal, at best.
Frog and Toad
On Friday, the Jim Henson Company announced the development of an animated feature film based on the Frog and Toad children’s books.
Higgs Raccoon, Jim Henson Co. to produce ‘Frog and Toad’ movie
The Frog and Toad books just seem like they should already have a major animated adaptation, but this version was not to be. And such a great match of studio and material; a studio famous for their work with green frogs! Frog, and also Toad, would eventually get a streaming animated series in the 2020s, but this is a tantalizing “could have been”.
Courageous Cat
Evergreen Media Group has acquired the rights to Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse, a cartoon series from the 1960s. Courageous Cat, created by comic book artist Bob Kane, was a parody of Kane’s better-known creation: Batman.
Higgs Raccoon, ‘Courageous Cat’ to get film treatment
Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse is kind of an obscure property despite it’s pedigree coming from Bob Kane, so it’s probably not too surprising this went nowhere. Reading the Wikipedia page, I see they fought a villainous fox named, wait for it, Foxy.
The Saga of Rex
Rex, “the adorable little fox” from Earth, becomes the specimen of Aven, a Blossom who comes to love Rex and transforms herself into a sometimes-winged blue foxlike mate for him. I think.
Fred, Book into animated film: ‘The Saga of Rex’ (quoting his own “Review: ‘The Saga of Rex’, by Michel Gagné“)
We’re now entering into the age of failed or semi-failed crowdsourced projects. Michel Gagné‘s adaptation of his own comic reached its stated goals, but the actual movie has yet to materialize over a decade later. Which is a shame, because though the art looks quite nice, the role of independent studio’s story about a small cute animal going on a dialogue free semi-magical adventure has already been cast.
Hong Kong Phooey
The Cartoon Brew has reported earlier on Warner Bros. making tests of live-action/CGI versions of Marvin the Martian and Hong Kong Phooey for “live-action” features featuring the cartoon stars. Now the CB has that test footage, thanks to director Alex Zamm.
Fred, Animation: A live-action Hong Kong Phooey — I say ‘Phooey!’
To be clear, it’s uncertain if this was ever meant to be anything more than what it was; test footage. 2012 was a different time, though, wasn’t it? I just don’t think even the vague hint of something called Hong Kong Phooey coming to theater near you would ever happen today. I think this is an IP that can stay buried in the past. (By the way, in case you were wondering, the Marvin the Martian movie also never happened.)
The Legend of Tembo
Have you ever heard of The Legend of Tembo? It was a new animation feature, the first from a new CGI studio in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Tradition Studios, created by another new company, Digital Domain, to be finished and released during 2014.
Fred, Animation: The legend of ‘The Legend of Tembo’
Included here more for the sake of completion than anything, as the movie was already “vaporware” (as the article puts it) when originally published, and is more a lament for the loss than an announcement.
Tower of the Dragon
Tower of the Dragon is a 3D animation project based in San Leandro, California. It plans to tell the story of Lyric, a young girl who has to save a world where reading is forbidden and magic is only used by those who obey without thinking.
Higgs Raccoon, ‘Tower of the Dragon’ opens funding campaign on Kickstarter
This one is pretty cut and dried. It just didn’t reach its fundraising goal, and that was that. (It was also marginally furry at best.)
Beasts of Burden
While the history of animated feature films is replete with movies featuring talking dogs and other animals, there are relatively few starring four-legged “natural” dogs (Disney’s Lady and the Tramp and Amblimation’s Balto come to mind), and virtually none with serious suspense/horror plots.
Fred, Dark Horse’s ‘Beasts of Burden’ comic book to become animated feature
The Beasts of Burden comic is a pretty cool, pretty rare genre fusion of talking animal and horror comics (they even crossed over with Hellboy at one point!), so it’s a shame this never got made. The comics continued on until at least 2021, but the movie was killed by Evan Dorkin, the original writer and creator of the strip, over a bad script, so maybe it was for the better. The other furry movie mentioned in the article by the studio is Free Birds, which got made instead. Yay.
Sly Cooper
Sly Cooper, the anthropomorphic raccoon star of several video games, is set to get his own movie. Although not due for release until 2016, the movie already has an official website, Facebook page, Twitter account, and a teaser-trailer:
Higgs Raccoon, Sly Cooper to get own movie in 2016
This one’s a rare case where everything seemed go, but then it all fell apart at the last minute. Director Kevin Munro was moved to the similar if not quite as furry video game adaptation Ratchet & Clank, which paused production on Sly’s movie. When Ratchet crashed and burned, the pause (which almost certainly would have already had it missing the original 2016 release date) became permanent. Though the video game series also seems to have come to a halt, with over a decade since the last entrant in the series, with the current popularity of both furry world movies and animated video game adaptations, this feels like something that could happen again in different hands.
K9: Timequake
However, K9, the robot dog who guest starred with the Doctor back in the 1970s, will star in K9: TimeQuake, which is planned to be released in 2017, which will mark the 40th anniversary of the character.
some guy, The tin dog from ‘Doctor Who’ is getting his own movie
This didn’t happen, by the way. Nobody’s really sure what happened to this spin-off of the long-running science fiction show Doctor Who, featuring K9, the robotic dog. It blew past the anniversary year, and with the death of K9’s creator and the writer of the movie, Bob Baker, in 2021, it doesn’t seem like this one’s going to be regenerating anytime soon. The main show even brought back and killed off the proposed villain of the movie, Omega, which was widely seen as a bad move nobody liked (in general, not because of K9: Timequake) to the point that even Doctor Who‘s future is a bit uncertain (though, to be fair, that’s pretty much been the usual state of affairs for the last six decades of the show).
Robin Hood
As of right now, Disney has announced only that it will be a musical featuring realistic rather than cartoon style animal characters, that Carlos López Estrada will be directing, and that it may not get an actual theatrical release, but go straight to streaming on the Disney+ service. Kari Granlund, who wrote the similar Disney+ exclusive animation to live action remake of Lady and the Tramp, will be writing this movie as well. The movie will reportedly be using a similar style to the “live action” Lion King, so look forward to more debates on what constitutes “animation” if this goes big.
some other guy, Oh, God, it’s happening: Disney announces live action (…ish?) ‘Robin Hood’ remake
On one hand, there hasn’t been much of a peep about this since the announcement, and Carlos López Estrada doesn’t even have the movie listed in his upcoming credits on IMDB anymore. On the other hand, Disney’s two biggest movies in America last year were Zootopia and the live action remake of Lilo & Stitch, and a live action furry Robin Hood would just about split the middle …