My thoughts on the Marvin the Martian movie

In case you have no idea what's going on, I'll give you the skinny.

Warner Bros. is launching development of a "Marvin the Martian" feature at Alcon Entertainment, with principals Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove producing along with Steve Crystal.

Project will blend live action and CGI.

Marvin was created by Chuck Jones and made his first appearance in a Looney Tunes cartoon in 1948. The character was often intent on blowing up the Earth, only to be foiled by Bugs Bunny.

Crystal, a former Warner exec with a first-look deal at Alcon through his Charlie Co. banner, developed the pitch as a Christmas story, with Marvin coming to Earth to destroy Christmas but being prevented from doing so when he’s trapped in a gift box. Alcon’s out to writers and directors.

Johnson and Kosove told Daily Variety that "Marvin" will be aimed at the family demo along the same lines as Alcon’s "Racing Stripes" and "My Dog Skip."

Alcon announced in May that it had raised $550 million in private funding and extended its deal at Warner, with the studio agreeing to distribute 15 Alcon pics domestically over the next five years, including the already-released pair "P.S. I Love You" and "One Missed Call" plus "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," which opens Aug. 6.

That is an article from July 2008 via Variety Magazine, at this point, I really didn't think too much of it. A few weeks ago however, Box Office Mojo confirmed a release date of October 7, 2011 for Marvin the Martian. At this point, I fell very on-the-fence about this movie.

I like to think of myself as a pretty good Looney Tunes fan. In 2003, I was one of the few souls who saw Looney Tunes: Back in Action in theaters on opening weekend. I have all the Looney Tunes Golden Collections box sets (which are fantastic DVD's no home should be without). This past New Year's Day, when Cartoon Network aired an all-day Looney Tunes marathon, which was the first time they aired on CN since 2004, I kept my TV on Cartoon Network till the second the marathon ended. As you can tell, I'm a pretty devoted fan and since Warner Brothers' efforts to care for the characters are so far and in-between, I like to support them every way I can. But if there is one thing I've dreaded, it's taking the Looney Tunes characters and making them computer-animated. I have nothing but scorn for seeing classic cartoon characters like Bugs and Daffy being done on a computer. It's just such an awkward transition and it just doesn't work for me.

Still, this is such a hard movie for me to support. After Looney Tunes: Back in Action down and out bombed six years ago, I thought the Looney Tunes characters would never come to the big screen again. In that regard, it makes me happy a movie like this coming. It's not my top movie to see in 2011 (quite honestly, I'm more excited for Cars 2, The Bear and the Bow, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and Green Lantern myself) but I can't help but feel the need to support it. So, despite it all, expect me in the theater seeing Marvin the Martian in October 2011 just out of hoping something positive will come out of it... but I won't like it.

And one more thing... if it's a Christmas movie, why release it Columbus Day weekend?! Some thing will just never make sense.