In the late 1990’s, Matt Groening was asked about possibly turning his successful cartoon- The Simpsons- into a feature length film. At the time, he suggested that the only way they could make a film would be if the television show went off the air. In 2001 Fox quietly negotiated with the voice actors to make a film and top secret writing sessions began in 2003, though Groening still felt that a film could only be produced after the series ended its television run. By 2005, it was obvious that there was no end in sight for the series, so the top secret production began to ramp up.
On April 1, 2006 Fox made the big announcement that The Simpsons Movie had already begun production and would premiere in July of 2007. Some media observers thought that it was a joke; after all, how could the film get this far in production without anyone knowing about it? Apparently it was possible. The film premiered as scheduled to massive box office success.
