Hey Boo-Boo! More Pickanick Baskets Ahead: 'Yogi Bear' Sequel In the Works
by Sean Comer
Well, the first movie made money. Logic dictates that we expect a sequel.
Variety reports that early talks are under way to bring "Yogi Bear" back to the big screen for an encore.
Last year's first combo live-action/animation feature far out-performed what even Warner Bros. executives probably predicted. It ended up grossing roughly $201 million for an $80-million budget film.
That alone might prove that the decision to bump it from a June 25, 2010 release to debuting in theaters everywhere one week before Christmas 2010 was a fortuitous one. It earned a $16.4-million opening weekend before topping $100 million domestically and another $100 overseas.
Dan Aykroyd voiced the titular picnic-purloining bruin, and Justin Timberlake voiced his sidekick Boo-Boo. Tom Cavanaugh portrayed Yogi's frienemy Ranger Smith, and Anna Faris, Andrew Daly and TJ Miller filled in other live-action roles. None of the above have been official confirmed or obligated to a sequel.
Writers of the original Joshua Stern and Jeffrey Ventimillia have been signed to script the sequel and Donald Kline and Karen Rosenfelt are back to produce. Stern and Ventimillia have had a good year already, having scripted Fox's recent hit "Rio" and DreamWorks' upcoming "Peabody and Sherman."