Shiver Me Timbers! Director Genndy Tartakovsky Leaves Popeye

Last year, Sony Pictures Animation released a Popeye animation test to stir up interest in a CG feature film that Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky was working on. Most of the comments were fairly positive, but in a recent interview Genndy, a lifelong Popeye fan, said he has left the project. Shiver me timbers!

"I was in love with what we were doing, but I think the studio is going through changes and I don't know if they want to make the Popeye that I want to make," Genndy told Movie Fone at a Hotel Transylvania 2 press event. "So they've got to make a decision. Right now, I'm off that project and moving on to the other one that we soft-announced, which is "Can You Imagine?" which is an original idea of my own and a very personal story. It was hard to let Popeye go, but that's the business."

He also revealed that he won't be directing a third Hotel Transylvania film if Sony green lights it. "We definitely won't be talking about "Hotel 3," with me at least," Genndy declared.

Hotel Transylvania 2 hits theaters on September 25.