Samurai Jack Creator Genndy Tartakovsky’s Popeye Footage Surfaces Online

Genndy Tartakovsky has certainly been busy in recent years, signing an exclusive contract with Cartoon Network, recently releasing the first episodes of the second season of Primal, working on a new animated series in Unicorn: Eternal Warriors, and an adult animated film, Fixed. Recently, Tartakovsky has made the news for a completely different reason as the animatic for his original take on the spinach-eating sailor, Popeye, has made its way online, though the leak wasn’t around for long.

Sony Animation struck down the eighty-seven-minute leak that was shared on Youtube, though fans can still get a glimpse of what the animated movie might have looked like via this animation test released in 2014:

In a 2015 interivew with Cartoon Brew, the creator of Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Adult Swim’s Primal dove into the original reasons as to why his Popeye movie was canceled:

“Basically, we did a screening, and it was great. Internally, everyone was super happy with it. I think it was also exactly what King Features wanted. We had a great reaction.

But this was also during the culmination of the Sony hack, and I could feel that something was going to happen soon. So after the screening, I didn’t get an answer from them, which was weird because everybody was so positive. Usually, we meet and talk and get notes. But they had a meeting on their own, and that was it. I just got a phone call afterward telling me how great it was, which always makes me suspicious. If they just call to tell you it’s great, there’s something going on, because they didn’t offer any notes. Later on, I personally went to see [then Sony Pictures Entertainment executive] Amy Pascal, and said, “Look, I’m a big boy. I can take it. I just need some information.” And she said, “Look Genndy, we love you, but we just don’t like Popeye.”

And that was the core. I think they’re still developing Popeye, trying to find a way to make it, but just not the way I was making it, which I think was very sincere and respectful to the way Popeye was.”

Would you eventually like to see Tartakovsky’s Popeye make its way to theaters? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the spinach-eating, punching sailor.