Fans have been pleading for years for Disney to do something with Gargoyles, their fantastic ’90s animated series about superhero stone statues-come-to-life that they’ve long since abandoned, but those pleas have fallen on deaf ears. But now that the director of Get Out is reportedly joining the chorus, that could change.
According to entertainment newsletter The Ankler, via Slash Film, Jordan Peele apparently went to Disney’s offices and pitched them on a Gargoyles movie. It’s an unconfirmed report, but if it’s true, then we could have our best chance ever at finally seeing Disney do something with their most underutilized IP. Before you get too excited though, it seems like Disney isn’t super enthused about bringing Gargoyles back and is apparently trying to let Peele down easy by basically ignoring him.
“How do you turn down Jordan Peele? Well, you can’t,” the report states. “Who wants to be responsible for that decision? So in the absence of a good reason to say no, but prevented by their Big IP box from saying yes, Disney is slow walking the decision. It’s hoping, it seems, that they’ll run out the clock, he’ll sign other deals elsewhere, and the project will just fade away.”
Apparently, Disney is afraid to take a risk on Gargoyles because it doesn’t fit into one of their current IP brands: Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Disney animation, and their live-action remakes of animated classics. However, that argument doesn’t really hold water. The studio released the big budget A Wrinkle in Time earlier this year, this holiday season they’ll put out the live-action The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and next year they’re set to release live-action novel adaptation Artemis Fowl. None of those movies fit into the previously listed IP boxes either, so since it appears that Disney is not afraid of taking risks with original IPs, there must be some other reason as to why they’re reluctant to move on Gargoyles.
Maybe Disney will come around and work with Peele, who we’re sure would knock a Gargoyles movie out of the park, but in the meantime you’ll just have to make do with this excellent fan film.
