Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie

Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie is an upcoming two-hour American animated television film split into two parts and is based on Craig Bartlett's Hey Arnold! TV series. The film will be a sequel to 2002's Hey Arnold!: The Movie and the two-part series finale "The Journal", which also premiered in 2002 on Nickelodeon, as part of the fifth and final season. The movie will serve as the definitive finale of the series, and will answer all the unanswered questions, including the whereabouts of Arnold's missing parents. The TV movie is projected to premiere on Nickelodeon in November 2017.

Cast

The voice cast for the film is made up of 19 actors from the original series, and several new actors to replace former actors who retired, grew up, or passed away.^[3]

• Mason Vale Cotton – Arnold
• Benjamin Flores, Jr. – Gerald
• Francesca Marie Smith – Helga
• Dan Castellaneta – Grandpa
• Tress MacNeille – Grandma
• Justin Shenkarow – Harold
• Olivia Hack – Rhonda
• Anndi McAfee – Phoebe
• Gavin Lewis – Eugene
• Aiden Lewandowski – Sid
• Jet Jurgensmeyer – Stinky
• Laya Hayes – Nadine
• Nicolas Cantu – Curly
• Dan Butler – Mr. Simmons
• Maurice LaMarche – Big Bob
• Kath Soucie – Miriam
• Nika Futterman – Olga
• Craig Bartlett – Miles
• Antoinette Stella – Stella
• Carlos Alazraqui – Eduardo
• Dom Irrera – Ernie
• Wally Wingert – Oskar, Mr. Hyunh, Dino Spumoni^[4]
• Danny Cooksey – Stoop Kid
• Danielle Judovits – Big Patty
• James Belushi – Coach Wittenberg
• Stephen Stanton – Pigeon Man^[5]
• Lane Toran – TBA
• Jamil Walker Smith – TBA
• Alfred Molina – La Sombra

Production

Development

In 1998, when Nickelodeon renewed Hey Arnold! for a fourth season, they offered series creator Craig Bartlett a chance to develop two feature-length films based on the series. One as a TV movie and direct-to-video, called Arnold Saves the Neighborhood, and another slated for a theatrical release. Nickelodeon asked Bartlett to do "the biggest idea he could think of" for the theatrical film. After looking at the series, Bartlett decided to make the theatrical feature as a spiritual sequel/follow-up to the episode "Parents Day", and have Arnold try to solve the question of what happened to Miles and Stella, his parents. This became known as Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie. In 2001, executives at Nickelodeon and Paramount decided to give the made-for-TV movie Arnold Saves the Neighborhood a theatrical release instead in 2002, under the title of Hey Arnold! The Movie to attract the attention of the public. Around this time, Nickelodeon also asked Craig to produce a special one-hour "prequel" episode called "The Journal" that would serve as a lead-in to the second movie. The episode was released as the series finale later on November 11, 2002.^[6]

However, Hey Arnold! The Movie received a poor reception, and grossed $15.2 million worldwide, leading to the cancellation of The Jungle Movie and leaving the cliffhanger of the television series unresolved. Despite this, Nickelodeon still wanted to make The Jungle Movie, desiring to put Bartlett into an exclusive contract where he could only work for them. However, during the period, Bartlett was working on a pilot/TV movie for Cartoon Network, called Party Wagon, so he declined the offer and left the network.

During the subsequent years, Bartlett shared many details, characters and plot points of the movie; however, he did not reveal any significant spoilers in the event that the movie might someday get made. Around 2009, many fans started petitions in several websites to convince Nickelodeon to greenlight The Jungle Movie. In 2011, reruns of Hey Arnold! in the TeenNick block increased public attention in the series and its cancelled movie, reviving Bartlett's interest in the project, who had returned to Nickelodeon to make Sky Rat.^[7] In 2013, it was reported that Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon's executives were interested in making a Hey Arnold! reboot.^[8] In late 2014, during an interview with The Arun Metha Show, Harold's voice actor Justin Shenkarow, revealed that Nickelodeon and Bartlett were in talks for greenlighting The Jungle Movie.

In September 2015, Nickelodeon announced officially during an interview with Entertainment Weekly that they were considering rebooting many of their old properties, and that a Hey Arnold! revival was one of them.^[9] On November 23, 2015, Nickelodeon reported that they were working on a Hey Arnold! TV movie that would answer all the fans' questions, including the whereabouts of Arnold's parents, with Bartlett set to write and produce.^[10][11] On March 1, 2016, it was announced that the film would be released in 2017.^[12] The next day, Bartlett confirmed officially that the TV movie would be The Jungle Movie and that it would be released as a two-part TV movie.^[13]

Writing

According to Bartlett, the story of The Jungle Movie was originally written and produced between 1998 and 2001 by Steve Viksten, Jonathan Greenberg and himself, and it's rumored that the final script was in its sixth or seventh draft. Many storyboards were also drafted by Raymie Muzquiz, and test footage was also produced.^[14]

In the years following the film's cancellation, Bartlett confirmed many plot points of the film, like the revelation of Arnold's name during the opening sequence and that Arnold still had the map of the jungle of San Lorenzo that he found in "The Journal". He also revealed that La Sombra was searching for La Corazón, a fabulous jewel and sacred relic of the Green Eyed people, the tribe that Miles and Stella helped in the past. Helga's and Arnold's relationship would also take a next step, after Helga kissed Arnold in the climax of the Hey Arnold! The Movie. In 2004, Bartlett stated that Arnold would stay with Miles and Stella in San Lorenzo, but in 2007, he said that he had not decided if Arnold would stay in San Lorenzo or if he would return to Hillwood with his grandparents.^[14]

In June 2016, Bartlett confirmed that the TV movie was written to take place with the kids going in to the sixth grade, two years after the ending of the original series.^[15] In July 2016, Variety showed various artworks of the main characters.^[16]

Casting

On June 13, 2016, it was reported that Francesca Marie Smith, Anndi McAfee, Justin Shenkarow, Olivia Hack, Nika Futterman, Dan Butler, Dan Castellaneta, Tress MacNeille, Antoinette Stella, Carlos Alazraqui, Dom Irrera, Maurice LaMarche, Kath Soucie, Danielle Judovits, Danny Cooksey, Jim Belushi and Hey Arnold! creator Craig Bartlett were attached for reprise their roles as Helga, Phoebe, Harold, Rhonda, Olga, Mr. Simmons, Grandpa, Grandma, Stella, Eduardo, Ernie, Bob Pataki, Miriam, Big Patty, Stoop Kid, Coach Wittenberg and Miles; while Lane Toran and Jamil Smith, the original voices of Arnold and Gerald were attached for return, but for voice different characters, being replaced by Mad Men star Mason Vale Cotton and The Haunted Hathaways star Benjamin Flores, Jr. respectively;^[17][18] and Spider-Man 2 actor Alfred Molina was cast as La Sombra, the film's main antagonist.^[19] The next day, it was reported that Gavin Lewis, Jet Jurgensmeyer, Aiden Lewandowski, and Lana Hayes were cast as Eugene, Stinky, Sid and Nadine.

References