A ‘Jetsons’ Movie Is on the Way Because the Real Future Sucks

We should have f***ing hoverboards by now. That’s what Back to the Future 2 promised me. There should be flying cars, and teleporters, and like, cool stuff. Instead, my son was almost hit by an electric bike riding on the sidewalk yesterday. A bunch of yokels cart around on electric razor scooters, also on the sidewalk, with no helmets or consideration for others. And the only hoverboards we see have a big ole wheel on the bottom. Dumb.

But my displeasure with the “future” we live in is not strictly travel-based. We also haven’t explored the far reaches of space. We’re getting robots, but they’re ruining the environment or pretending to be bartenders. 3-D movies don’t have ads that pop out of the marquee at you (though I’m sure James Cameron has tried), and even if they did, the movies wouldn’t look good enough to see (unless they are made by James Cameron).

It’s disappointing because I grew up being promised a fantastical future! A tomorrowland, if you will (someone should make that movie). Any movie, television show, or comic book that depicted the future showed off a sleekly designed aesthetic in service of science and community. Instead, everybody’s fighting, and the weather app on my phone says it’s raining even though the sun is shining.

Chief among the media that presented me with broken promises is The Jetsons. The 60s cartoon told the story of a futuristic family in the year 2062 (there’s still time) who lived in space and did space things, like getting trapped on a treadmill that doesn’t work. The cartoon remained popular, thanks to reruns, and was rebooted in the 1980s. There was even a movie in 1990! That’s almost thirty years after it started!

Now, here we are, another thirty years later, and The Jetsons might be heading back to the big screen. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Jim Carrey is currently circling a movie version of the show directed by Colin Trevorrow. The film would be produced by Warner Bros. with a script co-written by Trevorrow and Joe Epstein. This is not the first attempt at a live-action take on the futuristic family, so don’t get your hopes up.

The Trevorrow of it all is the most troubling aspect, but why shouldn’t a white man in Hollywood get another chance to fail? If anything, my biggest question is: Will this be successful? Like, at all? Presumably, WB’s algorithm (another horrible aspect of our future) decided this would appeal to people, but the cartoon first aired over 60 years ago. New episodes haven’t been produced in decades. This just seems odd. But, if it shows me a future that isn’t boring at best and frightening at worst, I’ll take it.