Footage from the failed live-action version of popular late ’90s and early 2000s animated series The Powerpuff Girls leaked online for the first time this week.
And it looks really bad.
The pilot for this Powerpuff Girls was produced in 2021, and would have starred Chloe Bennet as Blossom, Dove Cameron as Bubbles, and Yana Perrault as Buttercup. The concept involved the Powerpuff Girls reuniting as grownups after a long time apart, with the young women dealing with typical adult issues. (Blossom, for example, was described as having “repressed kiddie-superhero trauma [that] has left her feeling anxious and reclusive, and she aims to become a leader again — this time on her own terms.”)
The CW shot their Powerpuff pilot (written and produced by Diablo Cody), but wasn’t satisfied with the results; in the summer of 2021 it was reported that the network planned to scrap the original pilot and reshoot it. After a change of ownership at the CW, the project was canceled completely.
Cartoon Network Studios
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That was the end of the story, until a trailer for the live-action Powerpuff appeared online this week. It includes moments like the adult Buttercup saying “I’m not wearing that dress anymore, it’s gender normative and ass ugly,” and Bubbles saying “Oh yeah, I’m down with the clown,” in a joke referencing the Insane Clown Posse.
Variety confirmed the footage is “real” but could not verify that the trailer was an authentic one made by the CW. Even if the trailer is fan made, the raw footage itself is … not great. Looking at it, it is very clear why the CW decided not to turn it into an ongoing series.
The original Powerpuff Girls aired on Cartoon Network for six seasons and 78 episodes. It also received a spinoff big-screen movie in 2002. It never got a live-action version besides this one. And now it’s a little clearer why.
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