Warner Bros. has hired Matt Lieberman, who just finished writing a script for a new animated Scooby-Doo film, to adapt the vintage Hanna Barbera TV cartoon series The Jetsons for an animated feature film.  Way back in 1990 Universal released a Jetsons cartoon movie directed by Joseph Barbera, but the rights to the Hanna Barbera properties now belong to Warner Bros. thanks to the studio’s acquisition of Ted Turner’s Hollywood holdings.

Warner Bros. has been developing a film based on The Jetsons for over a decade, but it was a live action film rather than a cartoon (see "Warner Bros. Plans Live Action 'Jetsons'").  In 2006 it appeared that  the project had gained some momentum (see "Live Action 'Jetsons' Back on Track"), and as late as last year, the studio still appeared committed to creating a live action Jetsons film (see "Rodriguez to Helm Live Action 'Jetsons?'").

So, though an animated Jetsons movie appears to be wiser choice, especially given the fate of most of the live action adaptations of classic cartoon material, given the property’s checkered development history, Deadline’s report of the studio’s change of direction, while hardly a guaranting that the film will ever be made, at least indicates that Warner Bros. may be headed in the right direction at last.