Warner Bros. is developing a live-action “Flintstones” feature centered on a grown-up Bamm-Bamm Rubble, with Ryan Gosling and his producing partner Jessie Henderson attached to shepherd the project through their Open Invite banner.
The film remains in early development, and the studio is currently searching for a screenwriter. No director, cast or release date has been set, and it is unclear whether Gosling intends to appear on screen as Bamm-Bamm or remain behind the camera as producer. Given his recent turn as Ken in “Barbie,” speculation about the former has already circulated among fans, though nothing has been confirmed.
Bamm-Bamm first grew from toddler to teenager in the 1971 Saturday morning series “The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show,” which followed him dating Pebbles Flintstone, attending Bedrock High School and forming a band called the Bedrock Rockers, with cameos from Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty.
The character never appeared in either of the two prior live-action films drawn from Hanna-Barbera’s original 1960 series, which ran as the first animated show to hold a primetime television slot. The 1994 “Flintstones” movie, starring John Goodman, Rick Moranis and Elizabeth Perkins, featured Bamm-Bamm only as an infant. Its 2000 follow-up, “Viva Rock Vegas,” skipped the character altogether. Combined, the two films grossed over $400 million worldwide.
The Gosling project arrives separately from Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s own “Meet the Flintstones,” an animated family film from directors Todd Wilderman and Hamish Grieve that showed footage at the Lightbox Expo fan convention last October, indicating the studio is developing the Hanna-Barbera property on two fronts at once.
Gosling has a full producing and acting slate ahead. He and Henderson are producing Rachel Morrison’s romantic drama “Love of Your Life,” premiering next month at the Toronto Film Festival, and he is set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ghost Rider following an announcement at San Diego Comic-Con. He also remains in talks with Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig on a potential “Barbie” sequel at Warner Bros., a studio he helped deliver its highest-grossing film in history in 2023.
