The Simpsons jumped to the big screen in 2007, but the movie took almost a decade to get made. Springfield’s most famous family made its debut as a series of animated shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, and after three seasons, it was developed into a half-hour prime time show. The Simpsons then made its proper debut in 1989, and have since become the longest-running American scripted primetime TV series.

The Simpsons follows the daily ups and downs of the title family and other notable citizens from Springfield, among those friends and enemies of Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart, and Maggie. The Simpsons have also taken their adventures to other media, most notably video games and film. Their first movie, appropriately titled The Simpsons Movie, was released in 2007, and was very well received by critics and fans. Given the success of the show, it was surprising to some that the movie didn’t come out until the mid-2000s, but that doesn’t mean Fox wasn’t working on it.

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The crew behind The Simpsons had considered a movie adaptation since early in the series, with creator Matt Groening intending to make the movie after the show ended, but the great reception of the series put an end to that plan. The project wasn’t greenlit by Fox until 1997, and after that, it took the production staff years to put everything together – from the voice cast to the story. The cast wasn’t signed on to participate in the movie until 2001, but finding a story wasn’t easy. The crew struggled to find one that could be told in a feature-length format, and they didn’t have enough time to complete the project as they were already working full-time on the show.

Among the ideas they had for a Simpsons movie was Simpstasia, a parody of Fantasia; a live-action movie based on Phil Hartman’s Troy McClure, using the plot of the episode “A Fish Called Selma”, but the project was cancelled after Hartman’s death in 1998; and the episode “Kamp Krusty”, which was originally suggested as a plotline for a movie. In order to find the right story – as producers feared the movie would have a negative effect on the series – producers built the “strongest possible” writing team, bringing together many writers from the series’ early seasons. Over the years, almost 160 different stories were written before choosing the final one, as many of those plots were repurposed for the series, such as “The Bonfire of the Manatees” and even the concept of The Simpsons Game, where the Simpsons were aware they were characters in a video game, was initially an idea for the movie.

The Simpsons Movie took too long to be made, but it was worth the wait. A sequel was reportedly in development as of 2018, and in July 2019, Groening shared he had “no doubts” Disney would likely produce it one day. Given the amount of dedication that the whole creative team of The Simpsons put into the first movie, it wouldn’t be surprising if the sequel took even longer to get made.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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