From the upcoming The Many Saints of Newark, which is a prequel to The Sopranos, to Bob’s Burgers: The Movie, which is a continuation of that hit series, there are a lot of movies based on TV shows being released imminently.
But where those movies are complete and are just waiting to be thrown in to multiplexes, there are many others that are currently being produced, whether they're currently in the filming stages or have been sitting in development for years. Between another Simpsons movie, a Community movie that fans are desperate for, and the next instalment of the Jackass series, there’s so much to look forward to.
Rick And Morty
Rick and Morty quickly became a phenomenon on Adult Swim, rivaling Futurarma as the best animated sci-fi comedy, and it arguably has the most passionate fanbase out of any current TV series. As the show follows the misadventures of an alcoholic genius scientist and his bumbling rack-of-nerves grandson as they travel through dimensions, it has made for one of the most irreverent but intellectual shows there is.
Given that most of the episodes pay homage to specific movies - be it sci-fi, horror, or otherwise - it’s poetic that a Rick and Morty movie is being developed. However, even if it doesn’t exactly fit in with Rick’s mission statement (in which he claims there’s going to be 10 seasons of the show), a two-hour Rick and Morty movie could still be epic.
Jackass Forever
Jackass is best known for it’s pranks, and the bulls are back, as another Jackass movie, which was based on the now iconic MTV TV show, is currently in production. Almost the whole gang is back together, as Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, and many others are returning.
There have been so many news stories about what ridiculous stunts audiences could see in the next entry in the movie series, as there are already on set photos of Knoxville getting knocked out by bulls again. And given that the movie is coming more than 10 years since fans last saw them, the stakes are much higher too.
Sandy Cheeks
There have already been there SpongeBob movies released to mostly critical acclaim, but the hit TV show is also set to have a Sandy Cheeks spin-off movie.
Sandy Cheeks is an anthropomorphic squirrel, and though she has featured in the SpongeBob movies, she deserves her own adventure almost as much as the titular character. And just like the SpongeBob SquarePants movies that have been released, Sandy Cheeks is going to be an absurd and mind-bending hybrid of animation and live-action.
Scoob 2
After the new, more child friendly adaptation of the TV series Scooby-Doo was released in 2020, there’s an asterisk next to it’s box office intake, as it was released over a worldwide pandemic. The movie only made $26 million worldwide, but it must have done numbers on streaming platforms, as there’s already a Scoob sequel in development. That might not be the only Scoob related release either, as Scoob is supposed to be in a shared universe.
Community
Ever since it was hidden on a chalk board in the background of a scene in Community, the creators had always planned for six seasons and a movie. But it has been years since the sixth season ended, and it’s been nothing but tumbleweeds on the movie front.
However, Yvette Nicole Brown, who played Shirley on the show, has recently given an update. Along with explaining that the cast have a group chat that’s “popping,” she reassures fans that a movie is coming, though she doesn’t know exactly when. Given how Community subverted sitcom tropes in such a unique way, it’s something fans want more than anything.
24 Jump Street
21 Jump Street was a popular TV series led by Johnny Depp, which was about a bunch of cops who went undercover as high school students. The series was adapted in to a raunchy and self aware comedy that was a massive box office success, and it was followed by 22 Jump Street, an even bigger success.
Though the third movie was originally going to be a Men In Black crossover, an all female version of the series is in development under the title 24 Jump Street, hilariously making the third film, whatever it may be, the fourth movie in the series.
Mission: Impossible 7
As the Mission: Impossible movie series is now seven films deep and is a multi-billion dollar grossing franchise, it’s easy to forget that it was originally a TV show that Tom Cruise had nothing to do with.
The movie series has taken a form of it’s own, as the TV show was known for espionage thrills and slow pacing, whereas the movies are all about how big the stunts are and how close Cruise can come to meeting his maker without actually killing himself. If it wasn’t clear from Cruise’s recent rant, Mission: Impossible 7 is currently being produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Mission: Impossible 8 is currently in development too.
Power Rangers
The first failed attempt at a Power Rangers movie, which tried to set up a whole cinematic universe, completely bombed at the box office in 2017, so it sent the studio back to the drawing board. It didn’t take Lionsgate long to start work on rebooting the TV show again, and this time, it’ll be much different. The new reboot sounds a lot more fun, as it’ll reportedly take place in the 1990s, which is when the TV show was most popular, and it’ll even include time travel.
Star Trek
The recent Star Trek movies - which are adaptations of the original series - have had a great run. They have been extremely successful, but as Star Trek Beyond was released in 2016, the movie series has been dormant for almost 5 years now.
It seems like the studio doesn’t know what to do with the series, as at one point, even Tarantino was in talks to write and direct the fourth film, since he’s such a fan of the original series. However, regardless of who is at the helm of the movie, Paramount has at least announced a release date of June 2023.
The Simpsons 2
A sequel to The Simpsons Movie has been in development for years now, and it unfortunately looks like it’ll remain in development for another few years. The producers have currently paused the development because they want to see how cinemas bounce back after the pandemic.
Ideally, the creators want The Simpsons 2 to go to theaters instead of going straight to streaming. Little else is known at the moment, but one of the few things that’s confirmed about the movie is that is isn’t a direct sequel to the first movie.