I spotted this poster on the wall during a visit to Sony Animation last week:

With Hotel Transylvannia number #1 at the US box office, I’m particularly delighted that Genndy Tartakovsky’s next project will be Popeye for Sony Animation and producers Avi and Ari Arad. No one (not even my hero, Gene Deitch) has been able to top the classic Fleischer version of this iconic comic strip hero. I’m betting that Genndy has the vision to be true to the characters comic strip and cartoon roots, yet bring him up to date for modern audiences with all the appeal and action-packed humor the character is famous for.

After that? Samurai Jack? Something new? Who knows? But I trust this guy – and wish him all the luck in the world. Here’s a great little half-hour interview he recently did with Movie City News:

Jerry Beck