Rick and Morty Movie in the Works — Jacob Hair to Direct for Warner Bros.
What's happening: Warner Bros. is developing an animated Rick and Morty feature film with series supervising director Jacob Hair in talks to helm it. No release date, cast confirmations, or plot details are locked in yet. The film will be a standalone adventure — meaning it won't mess with the show's ongoing storyline.
Why Now? The Numbers Behind This Deal
Twelve seasons. That's the contracted commitment Adult Swim has locked in for Rick and Morty, and it tells you everything about how much confidence Warner Bros. has placed in this property since its December 2, 2013 debut. The franchise has outlasted its original voice actor's departure (Justin Roiland exited in 2023 following domestic abuse charges, which were later dismissed). It's been renewed deeper into the future than almost any animated series on basic cable. So when The Hollywood Reporter confirmed on May 19, 2026 that a feature film is actively in development, the real question isn't "why a movie?" — it's why it took this long.
The business case is solid. Rick and Morty ranks as basic cable's most-watched comedy across multiple consecutive seasons according to Adult Swim's own ratings data. That's a rare distinction in 2026, when cable viewership has been cratering across the board. A mid-budget animated feature ($40–80 million is typical for this tier) doesn't need a $400 million theatrical payday to work anymore. It just needs to perform decently in theaters, then drive subscriptions to Max globally. That's a winnable equation.
Jacob Hair: Why the Series Picked Its Own Director
Here's the clearest signal this project has real creative momentum: co-creator Dan Harmon confirmed the hire in a junket interview and said something tellingly short. "Jacob Hair is the director. We didn't shop around."
Most studios developing IP this big run a wider search — casting calls to A-list feature directors, the whole prestige play. Not this time. Hair has directed episodes since 2019 and currently serves as supervising director. He knows the show's visual language, pacing, and tonal register better than almost anyone outside the writers' room. From a production-risk standpoint, that's defensible. From a creative-consistency standpoint, it's arguably the only hire that made sense.
What Harmon has already spelled out about his philosophy for the film is worth quoting in full: "My philosophy would be to just take a Rick and Morty adventure, and spend a bunch of extra money on it and make it 90 minutes long. Not to try to earn its feature status by virtue of canonical dramatic tone shifts or anything like that, but rather to just make it a super badass episode of Rick and Morty." That's a low-narrative-risk pitch. Known cost structure. Predictable audience. A studio's dream greenlight.
Key Facts at a Glance
| Fact | Status | |------|--------| | Series debut | December 2, 2013 (Adult Swim) | | Current season | Season 9 launching now; renewed through Season 12 | | Director in talks | Jacob Hair (supervising director, on show since 2019) | | Studio | Warner Bros. / Adult Swim / Cartoon Network Studios | | Plot type | Standalone adventure; won't alter TV canon | | Runtime target | 90 minutes (Harmon's stated preference) | | Voice cast | Not yet confirmed for film | | Release date | TBA; early development stage | | Where to track it | Movie OTT's distribution tracker updates as platform deals close |
The Franchise So Far: What Hair Is Working With
Rick and Morty was co-created by Dan Harmon (Community) and Justin Roiland. It's loosely riffing on Back to the Future — an eccentric scientist and his less-equipped companion bouncing through dimensions. The show won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. It's survived a voice actor recast more smoothly than almost anyone expected.
The recasting happened quietly in 2023. The show didn't crater in ratings, which tells you the audience was attached to the writing. That's crucial context for the film — viewers aren't showing up for a specific performance. They're showing up for the anarchic energy, the emotional gut-punches buried under absurdist sci-fi, the way an episode like "Pickle Rick" (Season 3, Episode 3) works as both action comedy and genuine character study.
Hair's footprint on the series spans multiple seasons. He understands the show's specific brand of nihilism-with-warmth, the visual grammar of interdimensional sequences, and the comedic timing that makes the ridiculous land as earned. He's not a marquee name outside animation. That's not a weakness — it's actually consistent with how Warner Bros. has handled some of its most commercially successful animated properties.
The Box Office Question: Why This Stands a Real Chance
Here's the honest read: animated features based on adult-skewing TV IP have a mixed track record at the box office. The Simpsons Movie (2007) hit $536 million worldwide on roughly $75 million in production costs, returning a 7:1 ratio that no adult-animated adaptation has come close to matching in the seventeen years since. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) made $83 million on a $21 million budget. More recently? Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022) skipped theaters entirely and went straight to Paramount+, which tells you how studios now weigh the risk calculus for this category. The comp that matters for Warner Bros. isn't The Simpsons Movie at all; it's Beavis, because the question isn't "can this be a theatrical smash?" but "can this be the subscriber-acquisition event that justifies a mid-budget spend?"
What changes the calculus here is the streaming-era model. Warner Bros. doesn't need a $400 million event. A mid-budget feature that performs modestly in theaters and then drives Max subscriptions globally is a perfectly viable outcome. The show already has built-in international reach — particularly strong in the UK and among streaming-native younger demographics in India and Southeast Asia.
The thing nobody mentions is what Zack Snyder's involvement signals. Even just offering to "use his Snyder-ness" to help greenlight the project — and then appearing in Season 8 — suggests something interesting about the show's cultural crossover reach. That's a director with a $70 million-plus fanbase of his own. The overlap isn't accidental.
Where This Lands in India and South Asia
Rick and Morty has a meaningful streaming footprint in India through JioCinema (which carries Adult Swim and Warner Bros. content). It doesn't have Marvel-level mass-market penetration, but it commands a loyal urban audience — particularly 18–30 year olds in metros and college towns.
For the film, distribution in India depends entirely on whether Warner Bros. goes theatrical or routes straight to streaming. No India-specific release date or regional dubbing plans have been announced yet. Hindi and Tamil dubs have been made available for some Adult Swim titles on Indian platforms historically, though Rick and Morty itself hasn't had consistent dubbed tracks.
Most trade coverage treats the India angle as an afterthought, but the real play here is pricing. If Warner Bros. prices a Max-exclusive window at ₹149–199/month (the current competitive band for premium SVOD in India), the film functions less as a standalone revenue driver and more as a retention tool for a demographic that churns fast between platforms. That math only works if the subscriber base is already there. What to watch: if Max expands its India footprint before release, the film becomes its likely home. If not, JioCinema is the most probable landing spot. Movie OTT tracks region-specific availability across Netflix, Prime Video, JioCinema, Hotstar, SonyLIV, and Zee5 — platform breakdowns for this film will update as deals confirm.
What's Coming Next: Spinoffs, Season 9, and the Timeline
President Curtis, a spinoff series featuring Keith David, is launching soon from Adult Swim. Its performance will function as a secondary data point for Warner Bros. execs on franchise health.
Season 9 launches this Sunday. No trailer for the feature has dropped. Hard to say if one arrives before end of 2026 — the project's in early development, so Hair's deal needs to close and pre-production has to actually start. The more realistic timeline for a first look is 2027.
Box-office expectations are premature. But if even a fraction of that $536 million Simpsons Movie ceiling hits — say, $120–150 million worldwide — it validates the investment for a mid-budget production with existing IP and a built-in streaming afterlife on Max.
Where Things Stand Right Now
Jacob Hair is in talks (not yet formally signed) to direct the Rick and Morty animated feature for Warner Bros. as of May 19, 2026. The film is in early development. No cast announcements. No trailer. No release date. No confirmed runtime beyond Harmon's stated 90-minute preference. The standalone plot means new audiences won't get locked out by continuity — existing viewers don't need to be current on Season 9.
For streaming availability updates as deals close, Movie OTT has the current picture across all regions. This one's worth watching.
