Remember Popeye the Sailor? No? Can’t say I blame you, but he’s getting a live-action film adaptation anyway.
Popeye, to explain to those under the age of 40 or so, is a fictional cartoon sailor who gets super strength by eating spinach first conceived way back in 1929. Yeah, it kind of just sounds like an op to get kids to eat their greens, but hey, whatever gets the job done right? He’s had several cartoons over the years, but perhaps most notably there was a 1980 live-action film starring Robin Williams as the titular sailor – I only just found out today that this was the film that launched his career, which is a bit of a funny one. And now, as reported by Variety, it appears that Popeye is getting a new live-action film.
The film will apparently be produced by Chernin Entertainment, probably best known for being behind the Planet of the Apes reboot films, alongside King Features, an animation studio and print syndication, who owns the rights to Popeye. It also already has a writer attached, Michael Caleo (The Family, The Sopranos), though no director has been attached as of yet. What it will be about is also anyone’s guess, as there’s really only so much you can do with a spinach-loving, large-muscled sailor like Popeye, but where there’s an IP there’s money to be made, right?
