Groening: No Simpsons Movie Sequel… For A Long Time Yet

Despite being a little bit rubbish, the The Simpsons Movie did fantastically well at the box office and continues to sell well on DVD. So there is obviously a demand for a sequel from both the studio and the fans.

Producer David Mirkin recently lowered expectations of a sequel coming soon, stating that one isn’t going to “arrive as quickly as the last one.” And the first movie was 18 years in the planning, and four years in the making. So it was hardly a sprint.

Now, according to Variety, Matt Groening has reiterated these comments, telling Morgan Spurlock at the Mipcom sales mart in Cannes:

“It took 18 years to get around to doing the movie. We got very frustrated. We thought it would take two years but it ended up taking four. Some day maybe we’ll do another one - but don’t hold your breath.”

He also spoke about the life of the TV series, saying:

“We cannot predict the end because we can’t believe we are still here today. We are contracted to do two more seasons following this one. I gave up predicting the end a long time ago.”

I added the line about the TV series because maybe that’s telling in terms of when we can expect another movie. If and when The Simpsons TV series does end, that would be the perfect time to do another movie. With resources dedicated wholly to making it, it would happen a lot quicker than the first one.

But to be honest, I’m not all that fussed because The Simpsons Movie was just like an overlong episode of the television series anyway. And a little bit pointless in that sense.