Warner Bros. Develops Live-Action Flintstones Movie With Ryan Gosling Producing, Bamm-Bamm Rubble at the Centre
Warner Bros. is developing a live-action Flintstones feature film, with Ryan Gosling and Jessie Henderson set to produce through their Open Invite banner, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project is in early development and is currently seeking a screenwriter. Deadline, which first reported the news in a piece by Anthony D'Alessandro, adds that the planned story will focus on Bamm-Bamm Rubble, the adopted son of Fred Flintstone's next-door neighbour, Barney Rubble (Deadline).
The Flintstones began life as an animated ABC series from Hanna-Barbera Productions, launching in 1960 and running for six seasons. The show became a primetime staple and a merchandising engine that kept the characters in circulation long after the series ended.
Hollywood has visited Bedrock before. Universal released a live-action Flintstones movie in 1994, starring John Goodman as Fred and Rick Moranis as Barney, with Steven Spielberg as executive producer. Goodman later told The Hollywood Reporter that Spielberg had handpicked him for the role. The film grossed $340 million globally — a figure that, in 1994 dollars, placed it among the year's top earners. It spawned a 2000 prequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, which did not match its predecessor's box office.
The property has had a bumpy road back to screens in recent years. In 2021, Fox was developing Bedrock, an animated sequel series with Elizabeth Banks cast to voice Pebbles Flintstone; the project was later declared dead. Separately, Warner Bros. has also been developing a new animated Flintstones feature, with footage screened at Lightbox Expo (CinemaBlend). That animated project runs on a separate track from the Gosling-produced live-action film.
For audiences, the Bamm-Bamm angle is the most revealing detail so far. The character — a super-strong toddler found and adopted by the Rubbles in the original series — shifts the spotlight away from Fred and Barney, the duo at the centre of the 1964-66 animated run and the 1994 film. No director, cast, or release date has been announced for the new project. With a screenwriter still being sought, the film remains in its earliest stage: a pitch, a producing team, and a studio deciding which corner of Bedrock to revisit.
Gosling's involvement as producer, not star, keeps the casting question wide open. Open Invite, the banner he runs with Henderson, has been building a producing slate across studios. Whether a live-action Bamm-Bamm movie can do what the 1994 film did — turn a six-season cartoon into a global theatrical draw — is a question that will only be answered once a script lands and a release date is claimed.
