Bubbles is finally getting his moment in the spotlight.
Netflix is talks to produce Bubbles, a stop-motion animated feature film about Michael Jackson’s most famous pet, who accompanied the singer/songwriter on his many travels through the 1980s. Hollywood Reporter reports that the film will be directed by Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) and Mark Gustafson, who was the animation director for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, and who won an Emmy Award for his work on Claymation Easter.
Bubbles will tell the story of Michael Jackson’s life from the perspective of Bubbles, the chimpanzee who lived with the entertainer from the early 1980s until 2003, at which point Bubbles had grown too aggressive. Bubbles now lives at the Center for Great Apes in Florida, where he was visited by Michael Jackson’s sister Latoya Jackson after the singer’s death in 2009.
Also: Netflix Announces ‘The Dark Crystal’ Original TV Series
The screenplay for Bubbles was written by Isaac Adamson, and topped the Hollywood Black List – which highlights the industry’s best unproduced screenplays – in 2015. The film will be produced in an animation style similar to the Oscar-nominated Anomalisa, a disturbing drama co-directed by Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) and Duke Johnson, who directed the stop-motion animated Christmas episode of the cult series Community.
As near as we can tell, this is the first animated biopic told from the perspective of the subject’s pet chimpanzee, but if you can think of any exceptions we’d sure as hell love to hear about it!
10 Life-Changing Documentaries Currently On Netflix
Top Photo: Jim Smeal/WireImage
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Best Netflix Docs
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"Bridegroom" (2013)
The story of Shane Bitney Crone and Tom Bridegroom has resonated with millions of people worldwide since its release in 2013, during a time when states were still pushing for marriage equality. It's a tragic story that still serves a purpose today. Watch it, knowing that "it's not a gay thing, it's not a straight thing, it's a human thing."
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"Chefs Table" (2015-16)
Photo: Netflix
Even I was a skeptic. How good can a documentary be about food? I was wrong ... This incredible series follows a different innovating chef for each episode. These are real human stories from the farthest reaches of the globe, enlightening us regarding what it truly takes to have one of the best restaurants in the world. Trust me, it's worth it. Just don't watch it when you're hungry.
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"Happy Valley" (2014)
Photo: Netflix
A perfect example of the sinister side of sports, Happy Valley chronicles the shocking revelation of Jerry Sandusky -- the Penn State assistant coach who had been molesting young boys for decades -- and the news that the head coach and University leadership knew about it and did nothing. It's amazingly tragic to see people fight justice in order to save face for their football team.
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"History Of The Eagles" (2013)
Photo: Netflix
I'm going to be bold and say it -- this is the best damn rock doc in existence. It's more than the music -- it's about the people and the struggles that went into one of the most iconic rock bands of all-time. History Of The Eagles follows very closely each ebb and flow the band went through during the '70s ... and '80s and '90s: the melodies, the fights, the drugs, the public drama -- it's all there in unequivocal fashion. Don't you want to know what it took to write "Hotel Of California," "Take It Easy" and "Life In The Fast Lane?" A lot of peyote and ... Well, we'll let you watch to find out.
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"Making A Murderer" (2015)
Photo: Netflix
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
You've likely only never seen Making A Murderer if, A; you're new to Netlfix, or, B; you've been living under a rock. And by rock I mean prison. And by prison I mean your mother's basement with no cable ... Still, this list can't be completed without the most incredible crime docu-series of the decade. Seriously, the tale of Steven Avery is like a Dateline episode on acid. It's a story that was shot over a ten year period and has more twists and turns than a Stephen King novel. The ending will have you in total shock, yet wanting more. Ask the countless people who are still talking about it non-stop two years after its release.
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"Man On Wire" (2008)
Photo: Netflix
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
A French tightrope walker named Philippe Petit made world headlines after caught tightroping between the friggin' World Trade Center towers in 1974. Follow his path, and the headlines, for what many consider the "artistic crime of the century," a crime that took six years to plan and execute. As if walking on a wire 110 stories above the Earth wasn't crazy enough ...
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"Super Size Me" (2004)
Of course most of us have seen this life-changing documentary already. But again, this list wouldn't be legitimate without including Super Size Me. I mean, holy Hell, we all knew fast food was bad for you, but no one had a clue just how bad until Morgan Spurlock produced this master piece, naively putting his life on the line by eating McDonalds for every meal for 30 days. The mind boggling rate at which fast food can destroy every organ in your body was unknown until this movie.
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"The Thin Blue Line" (1988)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Before Making A Murderer, came a little-known classic at this point, The Thin Blue Line.
Both are incredible, real-life crime stories involving possibly wrongfully accused men of heinous crimes. The difference between the two is that The Thin Blue Line is considered one of the greatest documentaries ever made because it showed possible corruption of the Dallas Police Department while following a man who was proven to be wrongfully-convicted after tragically spending 12 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. I know, it's a load full ... You'll want to watch to see who actually did commit the crime and just how far police were willing to go to put the wrong person on death row.
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"The White Helmets" (2016)
Photo: Netflix
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
If winning an Oscar won't get you to watch, maybe watching real-life heroes pull a 'miracle baby' out of bombed ruins will. The documentary follows the 'white helmets' a group of Syrian volunteers who run towards each bombing, putting their lives on the line to try to save the lives of others during what is one of the most tragic wars of the century.
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"Welcome To Leith" (2015)
"First amendment rights pushed to the extremes." Yup, that's one way to describe it. Some have also called it a real life American horror story ... the documentary follows Craig Cobb, a Nazi-loving, white-supremacist who tries to take over a small town in North Dakota, with plans to bring his 'values' and his 'people' with him. But the town fights back.
