TVSquad

If you fondly remember watching the first Simpsons Movie hoping that the sequel would bring you equal amounts of life affirming excitement, keep hoping.

Matt Groening and Al Jean said an interview with Morgan Spurlock, the Super Size Me star and director hired for the show's big anniversary extravaganza, that they have no plans to start doing another Simpsons movie anytime soon.

They didn't rule out the possibility of another movie, but it certainly won't be in the foreseeable future. The pair said the process for the first movie was so frustrating that they couldn't fathom even starting a second one without some kind of heavy duty anti-psychotic medication.

I'm ashamed to admit this, but in the wake of Sen. Edward Kennedy's passing, a thought occurred to me: "I wonder what the late Senator and son of Camelot thought of The Simpsons' Mayor Quimby impression."

But what started as the nerdy thought of an overworked blogger also held a deep lesson in humility.

The late Sen. Kennedy, lampooned in the long-running Fox sitcom by actor Dan Castellaneta's voice-over caricature, actually embraced the animated politician as part of a contest held in conjunction with the theatrical release of The Simpsons Movie.

This wooden Simpsons couch can be yours for only $5000 or so!

It's one of 1500 displays that were sent to movie theaters when The Simpsons Movie came out. Now it's being sold on eBay. You can either bid on it or buy it now for the above price. Might be kind of fun to have the show's couch in your living room next to your own couch.

[via MTV]

If you haven't entered our latest giveaways yet, here's a reminder that the two Festivus ones are ending today. You've got until 5PM Eastern today to enter the The Simpsons Movie DVD giveaway and the Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. 2 DVD giveaway.

Just head on over to the post linked above, read through the rules and make the applicable comment there (not here!) We'll notify the winners next week.

Good luck!

Our first Festivus giveaway! This one is for five copies of The Simpsons Movie on DVD! All you've got to do is submit a comment below before 5PM Eastern, December 21, and mention your favorite character from The Simpsons. We'll randomly choose five winners to receive the DVDs!

Some other details:

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating who your favorite Simpsons character is.
• The comment must be left before December 21, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
  
• Five winners will receive a copy of The Simpsons Movie on DVD (valued at $29.99).
  

Click here for complete Official Rules.

(S19E01) Blackboard Gag: I will not wait 20 years to make another movie

Adam, this one's for you.

To begin this review I would like to speak to all of the continuity wonks out there in the audience. You know who you are! You're the folks who keep writing about how nothing changes in Springfield, even after something major happens the episode before. Well, The Simpsons has plenty of continuity. If not, then Ned's wife would still be alive the week after she died and Selma's last name would not be Selma Bouvier Terwilliger Hutz McClure Stu Simpson, Continuity is there . . . it's just subtle.

I took my kids to see The Simpsons Movie this weekend. While it was their first time seeing the film, it was my second and I still enjoyed it quite a bit simply because it's a funny movie.

Because I have kids, I often go see a lot of crappy animated films based on cartoons. I've seen, Rugrats Go Wild, The Wild Thornberrys Movie and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie among others. For the most part, I enjoyed these films but they were little more than a longer version of the TV show. The Simpsons Movie, however, is much more

If you noticed, we haven't done a lot of posts about The Simpsons leading up to the release of The Simpsons Movie. There are a few reasons for that: 1) it's a movie, and our friends at Cinematical have that beat pretty well covered, 2) we did some Simpsons stuff before its 400th episode, and 3) everyone else was doing it.

But there's no denying that all the promotional tie-ins, Simpsonizing web sites, and just the general popularity of the show paid off, now that the weekend's box office totals are in: the movie came in at #1 for the week, bringing in an impressive $71.9 million. Even Adam Sandler's latest epic, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, couldn't withstand the power of Yellow: it came in second with just over $19 million in sales.

Earlier this year, we told you about a possible advertising deal brewing between the producers of The Simpsons Movie and 7-Eleven. Well, that advertising deal is now a reality; to promote the movie, which is opening on July 27, selected 7-Eleven outlets have been changed into Kwik-E-Marts, in what the chain called its "most massive and complex" promotion ever.

AdAge.com details what's been changed in the promotion, which runs until the end of the month. The signs out front will be different, of course, but a series of Simpsons-branded products will be sold in the store, including Buzz Cola and Krusty-Os cereal. Even the Slurpees will be called Squishees.

Now here's a case of synergy I can get behind: According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 7-Eleven is in talks with the producers of The Simpsons Movie to convert eleven of the company's stores into Kwik-E-Marts in a promotional stunt. The converted stores would sell items that Apu Nahasapeemapetilon might sell in his fictional store, like Krusty-Os, Buzz Cola, and Squishies (lucky for the 7-11 folks that they have a very similar product, huh?). Also the images of Simpsons characters would be placed on other 7-11 products on sale, like their deli sandwiches (with Homer going "mmmm... sandwiches," of course).

It's a pretty interesting idea, if they do it for a limited time, like maybe for two weeks before the movie's July 27 opening and maybe for a week afterwards. Any longer, and those temporary Kwik-E-Mart signs are just going to look kinda sad. And, hopefully, they won't sell the Krusty-Os with the free jagged metal O inside. That's just asking for trouble.

[via Netscape. Thanks to sister site Gadling for the funny composite picture.]

Matt Groening's getting around these days. Last month he spoke with TV Squad's Joel Keller, and recently he met with the folks at Crave recently to talk about The Simpsons TV show and upcoming movie.

A few gems from the interview:

• The movie will not be about Bart losing his virginity. Someone once asked one of the writers what the movie would be about, and he joked that this was the plot. It's not. Some folks don't seem to know a joke when it sleeps with them.
• When asked straight out whether the movie will reveal what state Springfield is in, Groening replies "Yes. We actually have a really good joke about that. Remember, I said joke." I'm going to take that as a no.
• Thanks to all the pop culture references thrown into The Simpsons over the years, Groening's kids (and millions of others) have seen movies like Casablanca later in life and said to themselves "Oh, that's just like that Simpsons episode!"
  

[via Cinematical]