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The Simpsons Movie 2 Is Almost Due To Arrive
With The Simpsons season 34 arriving soon, it is almost time for the long-running animated comedy to produce a followup to The Simpsons Movie — if The Simpsons Movie 2 ever happens, that is. It is not easy to tell when, if ever, The Simpsons will come to a close. The anarchic family sitcom has been on the air since 1989 and is still going strong as The Simpsons season 34 enters production.
There has still only been one cinematic spinoff of The Simpsons in the show’s 33-year history. In 2007, The Simpsons Movie received largely positive reviews and had an outstanding box office performance, becoming one of the most successful traditionally animated movies of all time despite arriving in the middle of a summer schedule packed with major blockbuster competition. Despite this success, though, there is still no sign of The Simpsons Movie 2.
Judging by The Simpsons Movie's timing, there is a chance that is about to change. The Simpsons Movie was released between the end of The Simpsons season 18 and the start of season 19, and the arrival of 2022’s The Simpsons season 34 marks 16 years since season 18. As such, The Simpsons Movie 2 could reasonably be expected to arrive after season 36, circa 2024 or 2025. The Simpsons season 33 proved the show doesn’t necessarily follow any internal logic or rules, however, so there is a good chance that this milestone will come and go without viewers receiving any further word on a sequel to the show’s lone theatrical outing.
There is no guarantee that the gap between The Simpsons Movie and its sequel will be equal to the time between the show's debut and the first film. This means it could be longer before The Simpsons 2 is announced if it ever happens at all. The sequel may never be produced for numerous reasons ranging from the declining critical performance of The Simpsons to the passing of formative creative contributor Sam Simon in 2015. However, producer Al Jean claimed in November 2021 that pre-production was underway for The Simpsons Movie 2, albeit in very early stages, and he shed light on why the sequel is taking so long.
Unlike South Park, whose recent specials merge the feature-length movie format with the comfort of at-home streaming, Jean wants The Simpsons Movie 2 to be a traditional theatrical release. It is easy to see why, given the outsized success of The Simpsons Movie, but there is also creative reasoning behind this decision. The Simpsons Movie took advantage of its large scale and bigger story, featuring a much more ambitious plot than any episode of The Simpsons. Where The Bob’s Burgers Movie proved that its sequels would easily be straight-to-streaming specials thanks to its small scale and limited ambition, The Simpsons Movie 2 would need a big budget and large canvas to match the ambition of The Simpsons Movie and avoid becoming just an extra-long episode of The Simpsons, resulting in the lengthy wait between franchise outings.
