Mr. Peabody And Sherman Pushed Back To 2014

In the old Rocky and Bullwinkle show, the nerdy-but-still-clueless Sherman and his dog genius Mr. Peabody would uncover the "real" stories behind historical events by traveling back to different periods of the past. For the duo’s CGI feature film debut, Fox is doing the exact opposite, by sending them forward in time.

Variety reports that the studio is pushing the DreamWorks Animation film Mr. Peabody and Sherman from its original November 21, 2013 release date all the way to March 7, 2014. The spring season has been good to the company, whose How to Train Your Dragon met its success in 2010 at the same time of year. I guess we’ve already waited this long for someone to make us forget the curious live action/animation disaster that was 2000’s The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (the one where Robert De Niro unmemorably played Fearless Leader) so what's a little longer?

Mr. Peabody’s delay pushes the Kate Hudson/Josh Gad animation Me and My Shadow out of DreamWorks' 2014 slate altogether, at least for the time being. Should the film eventually find a sweet spot 2014, it will join the failsafe sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2, out on June 20th, and the children’s book adaptation of Happy Smekday!, out on Nov.ember 26th.

What DreamWorks does have for 2013 is March’s The Croods, in which Nic Cage (probably with wacky animated hair) plays a prehistoric caveman dad not ready to adapt to Ryan Reynolds’ modern inventiveness. July sees the release of Turbo, in which Reynolds again stars, but this time as a snail who wants to become the fastest snail in the world. Both of these films have stellar supporting casts who will probably outshine the scripts, as is usually, though not always, the case with DreamWorks.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman director Rob Minkoff was the man behind The Lion King, a film I didn’t care for, but one I can still recognize as a classic. So based solely on him and the killer voice cast – including Modern Family’s Ty Burrell and Ariel Winter, Mel Brooks, Stanley Tucci, Allison Janney, Max Charles and Stephen Colbert – I think Mr. Peabody and Sherman will still be a hit regardless of when it makes it to theaters, but I guess we’ll be waiting a little longer to see if I’m right.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.