TV Shows And Cartoons That Will Probably Be Made Into Movies, For Better Or Worse

Ok, it's one of the oldest TV shows out there and can still be seen in syndication. In fact there actually is an I Love Lucy out that was made in '53 as a spin-off of the show and naturally featured the cast. But it never saw theatrical release. And as so many sitcoms still play off this show, I'm betting it's only a matter of time until some director will decide to make a modern movie version of the show. I'm also betting that despite claims they'll probably make of being faithful to the source material it won't be faithful to the series.

Well, there was a Bewitched film in 2005 so I figure it's only a matter of time before someone decides they have to turn I Dream of Jeannie into a film too. Will they do a better job than what happened with Bewitched? That film is considered a disappointment based on it's world wide gross, in fact separating both the US gross and the International gross shows it couldn't manage to meet it's own budget from either of them. If the film makers learn anything from that movie then maybe they could manage this one. But most likely they'd learn nothing. Maybe they'll leave well enough alone at the two reunion movies.

There's already been a live action version of the Yogi Bear cartoons. Yogi actually got his start on Huckleberry Hound's show, then he went on to become the bigger name. Still Huckleberry Hound is one of the other better known Hanna-Barbera characters from that era and I can see them deciding to make a live action movie with him. Would it be a success? Guess that depends on how they approach it.

Yes, I know what some of you are thinking. Dolph Lundgren played He-Man in 1987's Masters of the Universe live action film based off this popular '80s cartoon. In this case I'm thinking whoever would try a remake based more on the cartoon than the movie. Hopefully one that could be better received.

Dragnet, Starsky and Hutch, 21 Jump Street, Car 54, Where Are You?, Miami Vice. It seems directors like to turn police shows into movies. CHiPs has already had a made for TV reunion movie, but it wouldn't be shocking that someone would decide to make a new movie based on the show. One thing that could be expected of such a movie would be lots of motorcycle riding, and probably at least a half dozen car rollovers.

F Troop is kinda one of those shows folks of a certain age probably never heard of, that's probably mostly folks born after the '60s. I may have just barely heard of it before 2015, but it was in 2015 I got to see it. Some directors do seem to like going for shows older than thirty years so this might be something someone whose been binging on retro TV channels might get a kick out of and decide to turn into a movie to introduce a new generation to. Of course it's also very much a product of it's time and if turned into a modern movie could see the critics bashing it, especially if the director stays too faithful to the show.

There have already been a number of made for TV Munsters movies. And we can't forget that The Addams Family spawned a pair of big screen movies. Nor can we forget NBC had considered a re-imaging of the series but passed on it after airing the pilot for the series. There has been plans in the past to make a big screen movie version of the show that haven't gone anywhere. There may be enough interest in this show that someone will once again consider making a movie out of it.

Ok, I remember my real introduction to Scatman Crothers being his playing Medowlark Lemon on three episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies and even more for his role as Jazz on The Transformers. It was years before I was introduced to him on this cartoon. We know superhero movies are big right now, while I wouldn't characterize Hong Kong Phooey as actually being a superhero himself, I could see him being considered such. This could make an interesting spin on the superhero movies running right now as long as they make the character a bumbling hero.

The show about nothing certainly still has a following, one that likely would like to see Sienfeld made into a movie. If that were to happen it would likely be like Sex and the City and feature the shows cast in their roles rather than cast different faces in the roles. This would be more a big screen reunion movie if it were made.

As with a Sienfeld movie a movie based on Friends would probably want to have the original cast return. However, I could more see new faces being cast for such a movie rather than making it a big screen reunion movie.

For years I've heard rumors of a big screen movie being made from this cartoon. Done right it could end up like Transformers did. Of course fans of the series would be the harshest critics of the movie if done wrong, or even if it fails to live up to their expectations. While I did enjoy the remake, I'd prefer it got left out of a live-action movie version of Thundercats.

Ok, if they do make a remake movie for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe then there would probably be some screaming for this one to follow. Hopefully it wouldn't be made by Disney, they'd over emphasize the princess part as far as I'm concerned.

It's one of those shows everyone seems to know about and has possibly seen at least one episode of. Most likely seeing that one episode in syndication. It's also something that would see heavy updating for modern times. Especially where the characters are concerned.

From the same folks who originally brought us Thundercats, this show doesn't seem to have enjoyed the same level of success as Thundercats has. Yet SilverHawks would be a bit more in the superhero genre given the cybernetic nature of the characters.

This is the only show or cartoon I think they would have to plan multiple films from before they actually began filming. While if done right I can see a ChiPs film and a Thundercats film possibly spawning film sequels, I don't see such films starting out as part of a large series of films. I see the original cartoon being broken into three parts, the pirate scourage, the Neosapien overthrow of the homeworlds (the four inner planets of our solar system) and the early months of the Terran-Neosapien war, and finally the defeat of the Neosapiens and liberation of the homeworlds. So Exosquad I feel would have to be a trilogy focusing on those three aspects of the story rather than rushing the story in a single movie.

A series about a top secret super helicopter capable of supersonic speeds, Airwolf seems a likely target for a movie. Yet it would probably end up being updated. For one it would most likely be set today so Hawke probably would not be a Vietnam vet and his brother Sinjin would probably be his father who went missing in the closing months of Vietnam or on a CIA mission in the '80s. Airwolf itself might end up becoming a VTOL jet or some Apache attack helicopter variant. Changing Stringfellow Hawk to Sinjin's son might be a little more tolerable than the changing of the aircraft.

Ok, this is a film I'm kinda hoping that if they make they don't try to recast the title role for. One thing I liked about 1997's McHale's Navy is that they ended up saying Tom Arnold was actually Quinton McHale Jr. and Ernest Borgnine was supposedly actually an older version of the character he'd played in the TV series. The series finale for MacGyver actually introduced MacGyver to his illegitimate adult son. So if they made a movie rather than recast someone in Richard Dean Anderson's classic role it would be more interesting to see a grandson following in his grandfather's footsteps. Of course that wouldn't happen, some director would try remaking the series altogether and screw it up.

Like so many other potential movies on this list, a movie based on this series would be modernized. Magnum, TC, and Rick would probably either be 1st Gulf War or Iraq-Afghanistan vets rather than Vietnam vets and Higgins a Vietnam vet rather than a WWII vet. Higgins would also probably be from Australia or New Zealand.