In another blow against theatrical distribution, the planned return of Pee-Wee Herman to the big screen will now instead be available on computers, tablets and other devices as TheWrap breaks the news that the Judd Apatow-produced movie will now be seen on Netflix.
The untitled Pee-Wee Herman film, which was originally set up at Apatow’s production home of Universal Pictures, will put Paul Reubens back in his most beloved role. Reubens created Pee-Wee while doing improv comedy with the Groundlings during the ’70s, eventually bringing him to the state with “The Pee-Wee Herman Show.” After appearances on shows like “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night with David Letterman,” Pee Wee hit the big screen with 1985′s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, the first feature film directed by Tim Burton, which led to the popular Saturday morning show, “Pee Wee’s Playhouse.” The 1988 sequel Big Top Pee-Wee
After a 1991 arrest, Reubens retired Pee Wee for a number of years but there have been many plans to make another movie, but they only started to come to fruition in 2010 when Reubens returned to the stage for a hugely successful live show called “The Pee-Wee Herman Stage Show: The Return,” and Judd Apatow became interested in producing another film. Reubens co-wrote the script of the planned movie with Paul Rust.
Of course, this movie has been in talks for almost five years now, so who knows if it will actually happen, but Netflix has already made available both Pee-wee films as well as his Saturday morning show on their service.