You knew it was coming, even if you didn’t know when. Rather than wait for the show to go off the air, FOX has greenlit a Simpsons movie while the series is still going strong. Don’t get too excited though - it’s going to be at least 2 more years before it actually hits theaters.Rest assured, however, that it is officially “on”, as the kids say these days.

The Simpsons movie is off the drawing board and in
preproduction.

“You know what? We’ve just done the table read for The Simpsons movie, so although we’ve been promoting that we’re going to do it, now we’re actually doing it and are in production,” Nancy Cartwright, who gives voice to Bart Simpson, told BBC Radio 1 this week.

Producers had always indicated that the movie would likely debut after the TV show ran its course. But with the show continuing to perform well, averaging about 10 million viewers last season, the Simpsons brain trust decided to move forward now, according to a rep for 20th Century Fox, which will distribute the Simpsons film.

“They are working on hammering out a script, but there’s no title or production date or release date,” studio spokeswoman Antonia Coffman told E! Online Wednesday. “We always wanted the show to end first but it just keeps going. Now they’ve worked out a team to simultaneously do [both the film and show].”

In The Theaters, Animation, On the TV