Release Date: July 27, 2007
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: David Silverman
Screenwriter: Matt Groening, James L. Brooks
Starring: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright
Genre: Animation, Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13
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PRODUCTION INFO

The Simpsons Movie is an upcoming 2007 animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. It has been produced by Gracie Films for 20th Century Fox, with animation produced by Film Roman and Rough Draft Studios, and is scheduled to be released worldwide by July 27, 2007. The film has been produced by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully, and Richard Sakai and has been written by eleven of the television series' most prolific writers: Scully, Jean, Brooks, Groening, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder, and Jon Vitti. The film is directed by David Silverman, a former Simpsons supervising director. The film stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Pamela Hayden, and Tress MacNeille.

Production

The production staff of The Simpsons had entertained the thought of a film since early in the series, but things never came together. The season 4 episode "Kamp Krusty" was originally going to be a film, but difficulties were encountered in writing a movie length script, at which point the movie plans were dropped in favor of a season premiere.For a long time the project was held up. There was trouble finding a story that was right for a film, and the crew did not have enough time to complete a film project, as they already worked full time year-round on the show. Groening expressed a wish to make Simpstasia, a parody of Fantasia, which was never produced partly because it would have been too difficult to write a feature-length script.Before his death, Phil Hartman wished to make a live action Troy McClure film, and several of the staff said they would have loved to make it.

The voice cast was finally signed on to do the film in 2001, and work then began on the script. The "strongest possible" writing team was assembled, with many of the writers from the show's early seasons being chosen for the film David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, George Meyer, John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti were selected, with Ian Maxtone-Graham and Matt Selman joining later. Brooks, Groening, Scully and Jean also wrote parts of the script. The producers arranged a deal with Fox that meant they could abandon production at any point if "they weren't satisfied with the results."

Work continued on the screenplay from 2003 onwards and did not cease, taking place in the small bungalow where Matt Groening first pitched The Simpsons in 1987. Each of the writers pitched a "half-assed" idea; Al Jean suggested the family rescue manatees, which became the 2005 episode "Bonfire of the Manatees", and there was The Truman Show-esque notion of the characters discovering their lives were a TV show, which Groening rejected as he felt "that the Simpsons never become aware of themselves as celebrities." The writers talked about the plot for six months, before penning the first draft, and revised the script over one hundred times. They eventually decided on the basic outline for the film, which was then separated into seven sections. Jean, Scully, Reiss, Swartzwelder, Vitti, Mirkin and Meyer wrote twenty five pages each, with the group meeting one month later to merge the seven sections in to one "very rough draft." The writers wrote the script in a way that they almost always employed when writing the television series, sitting around a table and pitching ideas, trying to make each other laugh. Groening described his desire to also make the film dramatically stronger than a TV episode, as "we wanna really give you something that you haven't seen before. There are moments you actually forget that you're watching a cartoon and that is difficult when you have characters as ugly as the Simpsons."

The film was originally planned for release in summer 2006, but Al Jean stated at San Diego's Comic Con International 2004 that the producers were taking their time, to make sure that the film was perfect.In 2005, Nancy Cartwright told BBC Radio 1 that the cast had done their first table reading, and two more followed. Groening also intended the film to be made after the show ended, "but that intention was undone by good ratings." The producers were initially worried that creating a film would have negative effects on the series, as they did not have enough manpower to focus their attention on both projects. As the series progressed, more writers and animators were hired meaning that both the show and the film could be produced at the same time. Twentieth Century Fox finally confirmed on April 1, 2006 that The Simpsons Movie would be produced for a worldwide release date on July 27, 2007. To prevent the leaking of spoilers the film's plot was kept a secret, with script security being taken to the "point of lunacy."

Release

The film is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "irreverent humor throughout". The rating had been expected by the production staff. However, the British Board of Film Classification passed the film as a PG with no cuts made. A BBFC spokeswoman said of Bart's brief full-frontal nude scene that "natural nudity with no sexual content is acceptable in PG films." The film is set to open worldwide on July 27, 2007, with the British release being moved a day forward to July 26, 2007.

Fox held a competition between sixteen Springfields across the United States to host the American premiere, with Springfield, Minnesota dropping out on May 31, 2007. Each Springfield produced a film, explaining why their town should host the premiere, with the results being decided via a vote on the USA Today website. The winner was announced to be Springfield, Vermont on July 10, 2007, with them hosting a "yellow carpet" premiere on July 21, 2007. Each of the other fourteen entrants will hold their own smaller screenings of the film on July 26, 2007. Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio jokingly called for an investigation into the contest, stating that Springfield, Oregon should have won, being the home of Matt Groening. Two Scottish Springfields have expressed their interest in holding the British premiere of the film. Empire gave away fifty tickets to an exclusive screening of ten minutes from the film, three parts of which were played on BBC Breakfast on July 4, 2007, during an interview with Groening and Jean.

Before its release, the film received a nomination in the category "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards, but it lost to Transformers. The film's trailer won a Golden Trailer Award in the category "Best Animated/Family Film Trailer" at the 8th Annual Golden Trailer Awards.