Before Jim Carrey's Movie Was Conceived, The Jetsons Nearly Landed A Live-Action Sitcom

There are some days in this business where a headline comes your way that features a baffling string of words you never expected to see put next to one another, but have become reality anyway. Yesterday was one of those days, as it was reported that "The Jetsons" is in the process of being turned into a live-action feature film for Warner Bros. by director Colin Trevorrow and starring Jim Carrey. It's not so much the idea of Hanna-Barbera's Space Age family being turned into a feature film, as they've already received the big screen treatment of 1990's "Jetsons: The Movie." The film was a series finale of sorts for the animated series' mid-80s revival, with pop star Tiffany providing the voice for Judy Jetson. When it comes to making a live-action film, however, getting the director behind two of the worst "Jurassic World" movies doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence. It's up in the air whether Carrey is set to play George, the family patriarch, or someone like Mr. Spacely, the loud-mouthed CEO of Spacely Sprockets. The thing about the "Jetsons" being adapted into live-action is that this isn't even the first time something like this has happened.

According to a 2017 report from The Hollywood Reporter, executive producers Robert Zemeckis and Jack Rapke were tapped to adapt "The Jetsons" for ABC as a live-action sitcom. The series was also slated to be written by Gary Janetti, who wrote for shows like "Family Guy" and "Will & Grace." Getting the director behind one of the biggest sci-fi blockbusters of the '80s, in "Back to the Future," to be in some form of creative control over the futuristic family living among the clouds sounds like an interesting idea on paper.

In 2017, Zemeckis already had plenty of experience working in television, having executive produced 93 episodes of "Tales From the Crypt," as well as shows like "Manifest" later down the line. Although the "Jetsons" gig feels like one of those "too good to be true" kind of developments. Little is known about the project other than it brought a modern spin. The last update came around 2018 when former President of ABC Entertainment Channing Dungey expressed her excitement surrounding Zemeckis' involvement, even though she hadn't seen any scripts yet. I'm not saying it would have been impossible to imagine the scope of Orbit City on an ABC budget, but a live-action "Jetsons" project feels much more suited for the big screen. Hanna-Barbera's prehistoric predecessors, "The Flintstones," made the format leap, albeit through the 1994 feature film from Brian Levant, which had a $46 million budget to make its world come to life.

The other attempts to transfer the sci-fi family into live-action are just as strange as the one being considered now. Five years before Universal bought the rights to produce the animated "Jetsons: The Movie," Paramount Pictures announced a feature film with "Star Trek III" executive producer Gary Nardino attached. Around 2012, rumors circulated around Kanye West being the creative director for a "Jetsons' feature, of which producer Denise DiNovi claimed it never went beyond a single meeting. Adam Shankman, Robert Rodriguez, and Rob Minkoff had all been courted at some point to work on a "Jetsons" feature revival, albeit animated ones. Zemeckis' dead pilot serves as the last time someone prior to Trevorrow, tried to bring a three-dimensional edge to the Space Age family. I guess we'll see if he can manage another $1 billion hit.