Somehow, ten full years have passed since one of the best animated shows of all time came to its bonkers ending, but Gravity Falls fans will likely never stop dreaming of a day when Dipper, Mabel, Grunkle Stan and more return to our lives. To that end, creator Alex Hirsch and producer Rob Renzetti worked their non-animated butts off in crafting the show’s first official behind-the-scenes book, The Art of Gravity Falls, and it is absolutely a must-own for passive and obsessive fans alike.
Spanning from Hirsch’s childhood inspirations to the major struggles pulling off the ambitiously game-changing multi-part “Weirdmageddon” finale, The Art of Gravity Falls is an inspirational treat, and I was downright ecstatic to talk to the co-authors and animation icons about putting this magical tome together after previously working on releases like The Book of Bill and Journal 3. Early on in our chat, I noted a section in the book that described the lush, high-quality background designs as being what it might look like to see a GF movie.
Then, knowing I might be jumping into a bottomless pit of despair, I asked what would generally need to happen for Gravity Falls characters to return for a feature-length adventure, and the creator did not disappoint with his response:
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If you can convince Walt Disney Corporation to give me $70 million and a theatrical release, you’ll get your Gravity Falls movie, brother. So start making those phone calls. I’ll say, we love these characters, we love this world, and whenever there’s an opportunity to do something in this world that makes sense for us creatively and doesn’t screw the whole thing up, we take it. That’s why we did this book. That’s why I did Book of Bill.
Alex Hirsch
Just in case any fans out there thought that the reason we haven’t seen more from Gravity Falls is that Alex Hirsch ran out of ideas for this universe, know that’s not the case at all. (Also, why would you even think that?!?) And if this were a live-action universe, something could have potentially happened already. With animation, however, nothing is so quick and easy, so everything needs to be perfectly aligned. Especially the dollar signs.
Alex Hirsch did suggest an amusing way for fans to get Disney on board with the idea of heading back to the Mystery Shack. As he put it:
But movies are expensive, so yeah, see what you could do next time you’re at Disneyland shaking hands with Mickey Mouse. [Laughs.] Kidnap him, shake him down.
Alex Hirsch
No, we’re not really condoning kidnapping any Mickey Mouse costume characters at Disney theme parks. But if you know where the real Mickey Mouse is, that’s the ticket.
In any case, the Mickey idea sparked a minute of conversational riffing that went like:
- ROB RENZETTI: No, you put what he thinks is a $20 bill into his suit coat pocket, and it actually turns out to be Stan Bucks. and on the back you write a message about the Gravity Falls movie.
- CINEMABLEND: And I’d have a string to get it back.
- ROB RENZETTI: [Laughs.] Of course.
- ALEX HIRSCH: You know what? We haven’t tried that method. Going to a Hollywood producer, giving them $90 million attached to a string, and then just sneakily yoinking it as soon as the movie’s made.
- ROB RENZETTI: Yes, as soon as the final film is done.
- ALEX HIRSCH: I think you’re describing how crypto works, but that’s a whole other ball game. [Laughs.]
With Disney and Marvel Studios spending hundreds of millions of dollars on Avengers: Doomsday and its Secret Wars sequel, one would think that siphoning off a measley $70 million to fasttrack a Gravity Falls movie would be nothing more than a few drops in the bucket. Plus, if any studio out there should feel bullish about making a profit off of animated features, it’s this one.
So let’s put our money where The Creature With Eighty-Eight Different Faces’ mouth is and buy up enough copies of The Art of Gravity Falls to prove to Disney that we want more!
Even if a GF feature was confirmed to be a reality today, it’s not like it’d be ready as a 2027 movie release, and would likely require an extensive pre-production process before any animation could be created. So it’d be years before it actually hit theaters. But honestly, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather wait for more. Plus, given the show is beloved by fans of all ages, it’s not like I’d be less interested in later years.
While waiting for the book to arrive, the only smart idea is to jump back into streaming marathons of Gravity Falls via Disney+ subscription and start getting your show-specific Halloween costume together. I’d like to paint my body like a rainbow and go out as gnome vomit, but it might require too many explanations.
Stay tuned for my full-length interview with Alex Hirsch and Rob Renzetti, which will be hitting CinemaBlend this week.