We’ve been hearing about a possible Arrested Development movie for years, and since the launch of Season 4 on Netflix, creator Mitch Hurwitz has been hinting that the next chapter for the Bluth family would indeed come in the form of a movie. This week, Hurwitz talked to Rolling Stone, and said he’s currently writing it.
Now, Deadline has an interview out with star Jason Bateman, who talks a little about it (among other things). It sounds like it’s still up in the air in terms of whether the movie would come to theaters or just to Netflix. Here’s an excerpt from what Bateman had to say:
So it’s a three act saga Mitch wants to tell. He took the first act out of the script and put it in these Netflix episodes. What I understand is that it’s going to be a two-hour movie for theatrical distribution or for Netflix. This will (feasibly) allow the cast to be on the screen at the same time and get around all those contractual barriers that prevent other cast members from appearing on other shows. Maybe that will be in the next year or so. My original pitch was to do a Michael Apted 7 Up thing where every seven years we check in with the Bluths to see where they are at.
Hurwitz has indicated that Fox, which owns the franchise (even though they canceled it years ago), has been the main hold-up. They have to get the greenlight from Fox before they can actually make this thing, and certainly many details will still have to be worked out.
Either way, Netflix has made it clear that it would lend its full support to whatever format Hurwitz wants to pursue. Interestingly, in the Rolling Stone interview, Hurwitz said that he’s also working on another unspecified project for Netflix.
Netflix’s Arrested Development episodes are currently up for three Emmys. When asked if he was surprised it didn’t get more nominations, Bateman said it wasn’t surprising after the mixed reviews the season got, but implied that reviewing the season is like reviewing the first 20 minutes of a movie (see his above “first act” reference).
Image: Netflix (YouTube)