It looked to be pretty promising, but Sony's new animated Popeye may never see the light of day.
Back in 2012, we reported on director Genndy Tartakovsky signing on to direct a new animated Popeye film. Back in September we saw some pretty cool test footage of it, and it looked to be coming along pretty well.
But now Genndy Tartakovsky is no longer directing the movie, and Sony may not actually finish making it at all. The director broke the news to MovieFone, saying that he's off the project. He said he loved what he was making, but that Sony is going through changes and didn't want to make the movie he wanted to make.
That's definitely pretty disappointing and must be difficult for Tartakovsky, who has been working on the project for years now. It's true that Sony is going through a lot of changes right now, so the studio has probably just shifted directions and did not see Popeye as fitting with their upcoming lineup.
However, we will still see more of Tartakovsky's work at Sony. The director is currently working on Hotel Transylvania 2, set to open this September, as well as a movie called Can You Imagine? about a young boy's imagination.
Tartakovsky is known for creating some classic animated shows like Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. His directorial debut was Hotel Transylvania in 2012, which grossed $358 million at the box office.
Hotel Transylvania 2 opens in theaters on September 25.