Warner Bros. Pictures is developing a feature version of "Yogi Bear", the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon, with Ash "Surf's Up" Brannon attached to direct.Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, executive producers of "That '70s Show" (and screenwriters of Fox' "Tooth Fairy", currently shooting in Vancouver) are writing the screenplay.
Donald De Line is producing via his De Line Pictures, with producer Karen Rosenfelt.
The film is being developed as a live-action/animated hybrid along the lines of Fox's "Alvin and the Chipmunks", with 'Yogi Bear' and sidekick 'Boo Boo', rendered in CG.
Yogi's exploits are set in 'Jellystone Park', where he and Boo Boo steal picnic baskets, outwitting Park 'Ranger Smith'.Yogi debuted in 1958 as a supporting character on TV series "The Huckleberry Hound Show", noted as the first 'break-out' character created by Hanna-Barbera, with a name derived from New York Yankees Hall Of Fame baseball player Yogi Berra.
In 1961 "The Yogi Bear Show" debuted, including segments featuring 'Snagglepuss' and 'Yakky Doodle'.
A musical animated feature film, "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!", was produced in 1964.
Voiced by actor Daws Butler, Yogi was one of several Hanna-Barbera characters to have a collar, which allowed his body to be kept static with just the head redrawn in each frame when he was speaking, reducing the number of drawings needed for a seven-minute cartoon from 14,000 to 2,000...
