AWN reports that even though the live action adaptation of JONNY QUEST is closed to signing Zac Efron as the lead, he still might not be playing “Jonny”. Warner Bros. is leary of placing the well known name of JONNY QUEST to the film after the bomb of SPEED RACER. Warner Bros. is worried that too many fans of the old-school QUEST will be measuring the film by nostalgia instead of the film’s own merits. Geoff Boucher of WB says:
“I’m not surprised because, well, unnuanced thinking in Hollywood is commonplace, and instead of spending the time needed to judge individual properties by their own merits, lots of decision-makers act like my grandmother at the racetrack.”
Jerry Beck of the well-known animation blog “Cartoon Brew” and a cartoon lover from way-back, also agrees with WB’s cautiousness. Beck writes:
Dear Warner Bros.,
Please don’t make a live action Jonny Quest movie. After Scooby Doo, The Flintstones and Josie and the Pussycats we don’t need anymore of our childhood memories destroyed by bad movies adaptations. If the Jonny Quest script is as good as reported, it’ll be popular under any title.
If the film is as successful as WB believes it will be, perhaps the smart thing is not to weigh it down with one of the most well-known names in Hanna-Barbara history. Don’t have the JONNY QUEST name in lights, but, put the credits. Since it is a QUEST film, whether in name or not, give credit where it is due.
