It's been a great year for Seth MacFarlane, professionally - what with the continued popularity of his pop culture-savvy cartoon series and great box office numbers for his live-action directorial debut Ted (which also earned respectable reviews); not to mention, he was selected to serve as the host for next year's 85th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Hence, it seems inevitable that a movie based on MacFarlane's hit animated TV series Family Guy will come to pass sooner, rather than later.

MacFarlane has offered something of a definite update on a potential Family Guy feature that would be fit for theaters (unlike the direct-to-DVD Family Guy-based Star Wars movie spoofs). Moreover, he also indicated that a story for the movie has indeed been worked out now.

MacFarlane visited the UCLA campus as a guest lecturer recently, with the intent of kicking off "The Oscar Experience College Search" - which gives students who are interested in a film industry career the chance to win a trip to L.A. and help hand out Oscars during next year's ceremony. However, it's what MacFarlane had to say about a Family Guy movie for theaters - which he described as "just a matter of when" - that's gotten our attention.

Here is his exact quote on the topic (via EW):

“We do know what the Family Guy movie will be. The Simpsons movie, I thought, was hilarious, but the one criticism I would have is that it’s a story they probably could’ve done on TV. There could’ve been an episode that had that plotline.

"That’s the challenge with animation. You pretty much can do any story you want, so what is the reason for the movie? We finally hit on the answer to that question, and it will be something that would be impossible to do on TV.”

There's no hint as to when a Family Guy movie might come together; likewise, MacFarlane kept his mouth shut about what that impossible-for-TV storyline might be. Plus, the multi-faceted creator has enough on his plate right now - including, potentially, a sequel to Ted - that he could easily choose to prioritize a different feature-length project (maybe even another original comedy feature). Of course, during a recent retrospective special (following the series 200th episode), MacFarlane said almost exactly the same thing about a Family Guy movie (a matter of 'when' and an idea 'not doable on TV') so maybe this repetition is indicative of something substantial in the works?

Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane in 'Ted' (Review)
Mark Wahlberg and Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane)

Now, could a Family Guy movie actually work? Well, with his screenplay for Ted, MacFarlane married his trademark irreverent humor and constant pop culture-referencing with a full-blooded three-act narrative (complete with actual character arcs and all), so he could feasibly manage a similar task with a Family Guy film. Similarly, like the Simpsons movie, it could boast a much more consistent joke quality than your average show episode.

Of course, that's assuming you tend to enjoy MacFarlane's brand of comedy in general - and based on the continued success of series like Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, there are a lot of people who fall into that category.

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Screen Rant will keep you posted on the Family Guy movie as more information is released.

Source: EW