With a healthy lump of spinach in one hand and feathered quill in the other, Ratchet & Clank scribe Todd (T.J.) Fixman has been drafted in to pen Sony’s upcoming Popeye feature film.
Word of Fixman’s contribution to company’s languishing animation arrives by way of Deadline, noting that the project has fast become a priority at the studio given the writer’s rising profile. That’s despite the exit of director Genndy Tartakovsky (Hotel Transylvania) in March of last year, and Sony is yet to lock down a replacement at the time of writing.
Not since Robert Altman’s 1980 effort has Popeye graced the silver screen, and while it hasn’t exactly hit the ground running, Deadline’s scoop is the first sign of progress for the project in almost a year.
Outside of his work in Sony’s camp, Fixman has been tapped by Hasbro as a creative consultant across the studio’s roster of film, television and digital. While at Insomniac, the accomplished scribe led story development on PlayStation 3 sci-fi gem Resistance: Fall of Man, though spearheading the Ratchet & Clank franchise at the studio is often held up as his greatest career feat. Fixman’s attachment to the swashbuckling sci-fi series doesn’t end there, however, given that he is also involved in the upcoming feature film.
As for E.C. Segar’s musclebound sailor, there’s currently no release window in place for Sony Animation’s Popeye film, but at least with T.J. Fixman now on board, the feature can begin to gain some momentum once again after turning heads and raising eyebrows with an excellent test reel. Ratchet & Clank, meanwhile, is set for launch on April 20, 2016.