Made for movies?

Writer: Roy Lim Jian-Min

There are many beloved 'old-school' TV animated series that have garnered a substantial following over the years, but as of yet, Hollywood execs have not revived and brought them onto the big screen. It's a shame that these animated series have still not gotten their well deserved treatment to match their gifted stories, however, we're willing to bet that it won't be long untill we get to see a worthy adaptation of these series real soon.

Thunder Cats ThunderCats was an animated television series which was produced by Rankin/Bass Production. The animated series lasted for 5 years, from 1985 until its final run in 1990. Although "ThunderCats: The Movie" was released only through VHS in the United Kingdom and North America, in 2008 Warner Bros. was in the process to make a CGI animated film which was rumoured to be a continuation of the original story, but the project was soon abandoned. The film's concept art was released featuring the title character Lion-O and a two-minute screen test was made and presented to the board of Warner Bros., but the movie plan was shelved. The rumoured reason for the halt of production was attributed to the critical and commercial failure of "Speed Racer" which starred Emile Hirsch playing the titular character "Speed".

Tom & Jerry Tom & Jerry is a short animated cartoon series which was created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) that focuses on the never-ending rivalry between a cat (Tom) and a mouse (Jerry) whose chases and battles often involve comic violence. As one of the famous series in America with a huge following that consists of children, teenagers and adults alike, the cartoon has also been recognized as one of the most famous and longest-lived fictional rivalries ever. And with so many variations of the series since its inception since 1940, the cartoon has also influenced popular culture as seen in "Itchy & Scratchy"; a featured cartoon in the "Simpsons", which spoofs the likes of "Tom & Jerry" whereby the violence of is intensified, as Itchy (the mouse) tortures Scratchy (the cat) in a variety of gratuitous, gory ways.

Samurai Jack "Samurai Jack" was an animated series founded by Genndy Tartakovsky that was produced by Cartoon Network Studios and was shown from 2001 to 2004 until production was halted. "Samurai Jack" is about a samurai (named as Jack) which was sent to the future by a evil lord called Aku. In order to return to the past and defeat Aku, "Samurai Jack" has to fight many of Aku minions. Samurai Jack founder; Tartakovsky, expressed his desire to direct the theatrical film, and it has been reported in 2009 by Kungfucinema website that J.J Abrams will produce the feature film under Abrams Bad Robot Productions and Frederator Films, but as of now, there has been no news on the start of production or any definite release date for a feature film.

He-Man & Shera "He-Man & Shera" features two cartoon characters first created by Mattel. Both are siblings living in an alternate world called Eternia. He-Man, who is a mighty defender of the planet, was featured in the 1987 film whereby Dolph Lundgren played the role of He-Man, which failed miserably and commercially. It would be nice if Mattel decided to sell the rights to make a feature film with a better script, as the poor adaptation in 1987 seemed to be lacking a proper storyline as it didn't portray the true villain of He-Man and also lacked He-Man's sister; Shera.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers The short-lived "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" was an American animated environmentalist television program, based on an idea by American media mogul Ted Turner. The series was developed and co-produced by Turner Program Services and ran its episodes from 1990 until 1992. Captain Planet is a superhero who is summon by five unique individuals from different continents who is each handed a ring that symbolizes the element of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Heart. Initially there were plans to make a feature film for Captain Planet, but the idea died off when Turner Program Services and Warner Bros. merged. In late 2007, Ted Turner said that there was a possibility that Captain Planet might be made into a film, but Warner Bros. soon came out with a statement to deny the possibility.