I read an article that FOX registered simpsonsmovie.com back in 1997. So rumors have been going around for at least that long. Wow, that's a long time to make a movie.
I saw it earlier this afternoon. It's simply amazing. It didn't ruin any of my childhood expectations, or current ones. Excellleent...
Actually, do you remember the camp krusty episode? That episode was originally planned as the simpson movie way back in the day. The writers gave up on it and did as an episode instead. Wikipedia: The production staff of The Simpsons had entertained the thought of a film since early in the series, but things never came together. The season 4 episode "Kamp Krusty" was originally going to be a film, but difficulties were encountered in writing a movie length script, at which point the movie plans were dropped in favor of a season premiere.[6] For a long time the project was held up. There was trouble finding a story that was right for a film, and the crew did not have enough time to complete a film project, as they already worked full time year-round on the show.[7] Before his death, Phil Hartman had always wanted to create a live action Troy McClure film, with several of the staff saying that they would have loved to help create it.[8] Im a simpsons nerd.