Fox to pilot Flintstones reboot

Hanna-Barbera’s original The Flintstones began airing on ABC in 1960

US broadcast network Fox, Warner Bros Animation and Elizabeth Banks’ Brownstone Productions are jointly developing a primetime animated adult comedy reboot of The Flintstones.

Bedrock will continue the story of the modern Stone Age family, with Lindsay Kerns (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, DC Super Hero Girls, Trolls: The Beat Goes On!) writing the pilot script.

The half-hour comedy catches up with the Flintstone family two decades after the original series, with Fred on the brink of retirement and 20-something Pebbles Flintstone, voiced by Banks, embarking on her own career.

As the Stone Age gives way to a shiny and enlightened new Bronze Age, the residents of Bedrock will find this evolution “harder than a swing from Bamm-Bamm’s club,” the producers said.

If picked up to series, Bedrock will be coproduced by Warner Bros Animation and Fox Entertainment.

Banks and Max Handelman will executive produce through Brownstone Productions (Pitch Perfect, Charlie’s Angels, Shrill). Brownstone’s Dannah Shinder and Kerns will serve as co-executive producers.

In addition, Fox Entertainment’s free streaming platform Tubi has acquired the AVoD rights to all six seasons of the original iconic series, spanning all 166 episodes, which will begin streaming on Tubi on May 1.

Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was television’s first primetime animated series and aired for six seasons between 1960 and 1966.

“Long before the Simpsons and Springfield, the Griffins and Quahog, or even when the Belchers started serving burgers on Ocean Avenue, there were the Flintstones and Bedrock,” said Michael Thorn, president of entertainment at Fox Entertainment.

“Their imprint on the animation universe is undeniable and the idea of adapting it for today’s audience is a challenge we here at Fox are very much looking forward to taking on with Warner Bros, Elizabeth and Lindsay. No pressure whatsoever, really.”