Yogi Bear may have been smarter than your average bear, but that doesn’t mean giving him a live-action/CG movie is necessarily a good idea. However plans are moving forwards on a film version of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, which will see Yogi’s Jellystone Park antics brought to life for a new generation of youngsters. While the film undoubtedly seems like an odd prospect, after the huge success of the equally improbable Alvin and the Chipmunks, there’s no reason to believe this one won’t work.
THR reports that the cast for the film is coming together, with Anna Faris in negotiations to take a live action role in the movie, as a documentarian who follows the tie-wearing bear’s activities. Also in talks for the film are Dan Aykroyd, who will play the voice of Yogi, and Justin Timberlake, who’d be the bear’s constant companion, Boo-boo. While we like the idea of Aykroyd, we’re having difficulty seeing Timberlake as a small bear, but maybe that’s just us.
There’s no news however on whether we’ll be seeing the ever-suffering Ranger Smith in the movie, although it’d be surprising is he wasn’t in there somewhere.
Warner is hoping to get filming on the movie underway in New Zealand in December, with Journey to the Center of the Earth helmer Eric Brevig directing.
Whatever else Yogi Bear is, it’s certainly going to be stranger than your average movie.