If you’ll pardon the pun in the title, the news is entirely real. MGM as Variety are reporting have in development an animated feature based on the Addam’s Family.

Besides the usual question of ‘why’, is ‘why now’? The Addam’s Family have been around for decades in print, TV and the silver screen. They’ve even been animated before for TV by Hanna-Barbera, twice!

As exciting as it is to see new Addams family material and especially so seeing as it will be animated, it’s not hard to imagine why it’s being done. Far from bringing back a timeless property is the desire to earn money.

That, in essence, is my main problem with such revivals. They’re not new material, they’re rehashing old material into something supposedly new. To explain further, the Addams Family are macabre and dark, but there are just one example. There is a lot of of original material out there that is just as good, if not better.

The problem really lies in the existing studio models that are used to create such film projects, and we’re starting to see them on YouTube as well. In effect, the desire to produce hits on a constant basis becomes the driving factor for output, and variety and originality suffers as a result.

Your thoughts? Am I hollow in the head, or is bringing the Addams Family back really, a good idea?

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