'Good Times' movie from Scott Rudin

Transforming a beloved TV show into a movie is a dicey proposition. For every 21 Jump Street, there’s an A-Team, a Bewitched, a (shudder) My Favorite Martian. But there are reasons to be hopeful about Good Times. EW has confirmed the Deadline report that Sony and Scott Rudin are teaming to bring the ’70s sitcom about a working-class black family to the big screen. The project is being scripted by Phil Johnston, who wrote the nifty little comedy Cedar Rapids and co-wrote Wreck-It Ralph.

And the source material offers lots of possibilities. Good Times was spun off from Maude — itself a spinoff of All in the Family — and the series allowed ’70s uber-producer Norman Lear to explore an assortment of topical issues. Of course, the show also evolved in a more openly farcical direction as it went along, becoming more about J.J., the character played by Jimmie Walker who was famous for his catchphrase, “Dy-no-mite!”

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