One of the cinematic nuts Warner Bros. has been trying to crack for years, Jonny Quest has remained frustratingly unadapted. The latest name attached to the effort is Lego Batman director Chris McKay, who will marshal the live-action movie through its next stage of development.
Quest, should the name bring on a case of forehead-crumpling 'who-is-that?' syndrome in you, was a 1960s cartoon from the Hanna-Barbera team that followed the gee-whizz adventures of a lad and his father, Benton C. Quest as they journeyed around the world encountering mummies, monsters and submerged lairs as they thwarted the plans of evildoers. Jonny was usually accompanied by Hadji, his best pal, a bulldog named Bandit and government agent bodyguard Race Bannon.
Since the original series, which was cancelled due to the high cost of producing the ambitious animation, revival versions have appeared on TV and in comic books. And after Ted Turner and Warner Bros. bought the rights to the Barbera back catalogue in the 1990s, Richard Donner and Lauren Shuler Donner tried to launch a big screen adaptation. More recently, there was chatter in 2010 with a version that potentially saw Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson as Jonny and Race, with Peter Segal, Andy Fickman and Robert Rodriguez considering directing at different times.
With an entire Blu-ray collection of the Quest cartoons headed to stores in 2020, there may be some attempt to tie-in, assuming the film can be ready by then. But McKay is already also attached to a live-action take on Nightwing, the adventures of one-time Robin Dick Grayson.
Keep up to date with all the latest movie news, click here to subscribe to Empire on Great Magazines and have the latest issue delivered to your door every month.