ALF Set To Return To Earth In Big Screen Adventure

Ladies, Gentlemen, and fellow children of the ’80s, score another victory for pop culture as the return of ALF is upon us. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the retro sitcom sensation is set to make a big screen come back courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation and creator Paul Fusco in a CGI/ live action adventure.

Jordan Kerner, who produced last summer’s successful reboot of The Smurfs for Sony, will work along side Fusco and his Alien Productions partners who own the rights to the character and ran the hit TV show.

Fusco is expected to return to provide ALF’s voice, but will leave behind his puppeteer skills in lieu of modern CGI technology. The exact direction of the film has yet to be announced, with no director or writer on board just yet.

For those too young to remember, ALF (as in Alien Life Form), was the furry star of NBC’s hit sitcom that ran for 102 episodes from 1986-1990. In the pilot, the sarcastic alien from the planet Melmac was stranded on Earth after crashing his spaceship into the garage of the Tanner family. The wisecracking extraterrestrial, whose real name is Gordon Shumway and had frequent cravings to snack on cats, lived a secret life in the Tanner’s California household where typical sitcom wackiness ensued.

It will be interesting to see ultimately whether the film will gamble on the long shot to continue on from the show, or take the more likely road to start from scratch. Fusco, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, would like to start anew.

“ALF could be more outspoken now than ever, because the world is a whole different place than the ’80s. And I think the character still stands up and certainly has more to say now than ever,” he says. “I think we would approach it in a fresh way. I don’t think we would duplicate the TV show, but I think we would maybe put it in a storyline where we would explain how ALF got here and put him with a new family and let the character speak for himself.”

With both modern technology and the extended time away from the spotlight, a reboot is well in order. The success of the family friendly The Smurfs last summer and this year’s edgy R-rated Ted, live-action films featuring CGI characters is a genre audiences all across the board have embraced.

ALF was limited to Muppet Show-esque mobility on his sitcom and other high profile appearances, including hosting The Tonight Show, Hollywood Squares, and even a cameo on Matlock. It will be a treat to see his full body moving around and seemlessly interacting on a big screen environment in the same manner as the raunchy teddy bear Ted was allowed to. Personally I’d love to see a edgy PG-13 adventure rather than safe summer fare for the whole family, leaning further on the Ted side then that of The Smurfs. Fusco infused ALF with a sharp sense of humor that could easily go beyond prime time network standards or a PG rating.

You can check out The Hollywood Reporter’s full in-depth interview with Paul Fusco where he discussed ALF’s genesis and TV history, as well as his thoughts regarding a comeback

 “I think the timing is right. That’s a big important thing, timing,” he says, quite confident in his prediction. “There have been movies out there of characters that I didn’t think were on the same parallel as ALF that got movies made, so I think it’s time. I think it could be a home run on a lot of levels.”

Here is the opening credits to NBC’s ALF, and keep an open ear for that awesome hard hitting bass line…