Was ‘The Simpsons Movie 2’ Greenlit to Boost Theme Park Attendance?

After nearly two decades, we’re finally getting a follow-up to The Simpsons Movie. Yes, fans will once again have the opportunity to spend their hard-earned money paying to see the characters they’ve watched on TV for free over the past 36 years.

While the Simpson family’s return to the big screen is no doubt exciting news, it does beg the question: Why now? Is it just because Disney needs to fill the void created by our waning cultural interest in Marvel movies? Does Matt Groening secretly have more gambling debts that need to be paid off?

Or is it possible that this is all about beefing up Disney’s lucrative theme park business?

Right now the Simpsons characters are prominently featured in Universal theme parks, such as Universal Orlando, which has a massive Springfield-themed area of the park containing familiar sites such as Moe’s Tavern, the Kwik-E-Mart, Krusty Burger and Lard Lad Donuts. There’s also “The Simpsons Ride,” which, sadly, doesn’t involve a boat ride through a river of hallucinogenic mystery sludge.

But as we mentioned earlier this year, Disney has reportedly been sending out surveys in order to gauge guests’ interest in potentially incorporating elements from The Simpsons franchise into their intellectual property-filled parks. 

That’s because Universal’s deal, which predates the Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, only allows them to use the Simpsons characters for a certain amount of time. And while the terms of this deal haven’t been made public, rumor has it that the current contract will expire before the end of the decade.

As Inside the Magic just pointed out, the announcement that The Simpsons Movie’s sequel will be hitting theaters in 2027 is “lining up perfectly with the expected end of Universal’s theme park rights.” According to the website, “by 2027 or 2028, the gates could open for The Simpsons to make their long-awaited debut in Disney parks” and these “timelines align too neatly to ignore.”

So Disney giving The Simpsons Movie 2 the greenlight could be a calculated business move to promote the new theme park venture. And if the company does end up pouring millions of dollars into a new Simpsons-themed attraction, stoking cultural interest with another feature film probably isn’t a bad idea. 

Although, come to think of it, Disney doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to making movies to promote their theme parks, lest we forget the time Eddie Murphy visited The Haunted Mansion. And the less said about the animatronic horror show known as The Country Bears, the better.