The Looney Tunes Live-Action Marvin The Martian Movie Looked Hilariously Awful
If a studio is ever down bad with creative ideas, and they have any animated intellectual property at all, you know what is about to happen. We are getting a live-action version of a popular (or not popular) character. It’s just the seeming way of the Hollywood world, and it’s been tested all manner of times. So it’s no surprise to find out that there was once a Marvin the Martian live-action movie in the works. To say it looked ridiculous is a moderate understatement.
The reason we know it was actually in non-theoretical existence is because, somehow, there is test footage from the first run of ideas for the Marvin the Martian live-action movie. This was part of the early campaign to see if any audiences were out there who would be interested in the flick. Hint: they weren’t.
Check out the live-action Marvin the Martian test footage and see for yourself.
Marvin The Martian-Test Movie from Charlie Daboub- CD Projects Inc. on Vimeo.
Back in the 2012-2013 range, Warner Bros floated out there the Marvin Martian live-action teaser video to see what fans thought. You can see for yourself why this ultimately didn’t go through. It’s a Christmas theme, there are threats of violence, the character looks ridiculous and this thing ended up in the trash can. But at least we can see the attempt.
I’ll give you a moment to finish scrubbing your eyeholes with lye before providing a bit of background.
This footage is from a nixed Marvin the Martian movie at one time in development by director Alex Zamm. Zamm went on to direct the Woody the Woodpecker live-action movie (13% on Rotten Tomatoes) if you want a proxy for how this Marvin the Martian movie would end up going.
Marvin the Martian is part of a Christmas present for a very likely, very annoying kid (mohawk snowman, opening presents without parents around), and the Looney Tunes character says he’s there to destroy Christmas.
The (awful) kid tries to sell him on eBay before he escapes, does some not-funny stuff, and blasts the Christmas tree with a ray gun. The kid breaks the fourth wall with a tired “This could get interesting” and we all agree that it won’t.
Speaking of Looney Tunes live-action movies that weren’t Marvin the Martian, Warner Bros. had Coyote vs. Acme in the works, but that isn’t likely to see the light of day. Maybe for the better, though prospects around that flick were certainly higher. Plus, in 2021 we got a return to the Space Jam world with New Legacy, but that was built on the back of the whole cartoon catalog plus a ton of celebrities.
