With Family Guy recently reaching its 20th season, it seems as good a time as any to release a Family Guy movie. Despite the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, talking about the idea for many years, there's still no sign of any movie in production. And combined with MacFarlane's more recently-troubled movie releases, fans are left wondering if it'll ever come to fruition.
South Park got its movie back in 1999, then The Simpsons Movie released in 2007 to huge box office numbers, and now The Bob's Burger Movie is right around the corner. With Family Guy starting in 1999 and holding strong to this day, many wonder why it's taking so long to get its big-screen debut. While MacFarlane released the direct-to-DVD film, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, he doesn't consider it his big Family Guy movie that he claims he has had all planned out for years.
Back in 2007, MacFarlane spoke to MTV about The Simpsons Movie and added, "At some point, I hope to make a Family Guy movie. The trick is to find a way to do it and the series at the same time." This is a fair point to make, as The Simpsons Movie took over 20 years to finally release, which is about as long as Family Guy has been around. He then wrapped up the interview with a little plot hint, saying it has "something to do with Pauly Shore."
One of the most recent mentions of the movie was during a 2019 interview with Today. When asked about its existence, MacFarlane said, "We've been talking about this for ten years. The Family Guy movie is still on my To-Do list... I have a pretty clear sense of what it's going to be. I have for some time. But I just haven't gotten around to it." It sounds like the movie still isn't in production, yet the comment gives fans a glimmer of hope.
What doesn't help is MacFarlane's rocky past of movie releases. His first movie-directing debut was with 2012's Ted, which released to mostly positive reviews and impressive box-office numbers. But only two years later, MacFarlane released A Million Ways to Die in the West, which received harsh criticism and barely made double of what the production cost. And finally, Ted 2 released in 2015 to mixed reviews and underwhelming box office performance.
Whether it was his decision or not, it seems MacFarlane suddenly stopped working on movies and moved on to other projects. With his latest being the Star Trek-inspired comedy, The Orville, it appears that the Family Guy movie is still being left on his "to-do list." Still, fans haven't given up hope, as Family Guy continues to be renewed for multiple seasons every year.
And the show is no stranger to movie-length stories, as there have been numerous arcs that span over multiple episodes. So, perhaps MacFarlane's patience with the movie is so that it can be something truly special, which couldn't be told within a few episodes. But for now, all fans can do is speculate.