“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane wants to bring his beloved and controversial Fox show to the big screen, telling students at UCLA on Wednesday that a theatrical version of the show will definitely happen.
“It’s just a matter of when,” MacFarlane said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “It’s hard to do that while you have the series going on at the same time; I think that’s why it took ‘The Simpsons’ 20 seasons to figure out how to do it.”
“Family Guy,” which is in its 11th season, has made MacFarlane one of the most successful writers in television. A writer, director, voice actor and animator — not to mention singer-of-standards and this year’s Oscar host — MacFarlane created that show, as well Fox shows “American Dad” and “The Cleveland Show.”
He also had been working on a reboot of "The Flintstones," but that appears to be shelved for now.
MacFarlane then transformed into one of the film industry’s hottest commodities this summer thanks to the breakout success of “Ted,” the Universal comedy that has set a new box-office record for an original, R-rated comedy.
While Universal has every intent of making another “Ted,” MacFarlane said he also has developed the ideas for a “Family Guy” film.
“We do know what the 'Family Guy' movie will be,” he told the students. Drawing another comparison to “The Simpsons Movie,” he said his one criticism of the cinematic version of that iconic show was that the plot would have worked on TV.
He claimed his “Family Guy” idea “would be impossible to do on TV.”
The Hollywood Reporter wrote last year that there is a deal in place for a ‘Family Guy” movie, but MacFarlane's representatives did not respond to a request for more information about the rights to the movie or MacFarlane’s plans.
While MacFarlane still spends a good deal of his time working on television projects, the prospect of a "Family Guy" movie raises two questions: Does he have to make "Ted" first? Does Fox have the rights to the movie?
Neither Universal nor Fox have returned requests for comment.
