Lock up your cherished childhood icons, because the studios are still on the hunt. Whoops… Too late. The Mr Men have been snapped by 20th Century Fox Animation for a little trip to the big screen.
Actually, given that it’s the animation department, which has worked on the likes of the Ice Age series and **Horton Hears a Who **nabbing this one, we’re a little more optimistic. At least they’re not going the live-action/animation blend of so many recent attempts. Let’s face it – if you thought the look of the CG Chipmunks or (shudder) Yogi Bear was disturbing, just try to imagine the odd characters of the Mr Men interacting with the real world.
Usually this is the part where we’d have to bring the younglings who never cracked the books open or watched the TV shows up to speed on the concept, but the Mr Men are pretty much evergreen, having cropped up in a multitude of formats since Roger Hargreaves’ original six books arrived in 1971. Just in case your brow is crinkling at the name, the Men – a collection of strange cartoon types who all embody one particular emotion or trait (Mr Happy, Mr Greedy, Mr Tickle, Mr Nosey etc) – have appeared in 48 books since they first arrived on the scene.
Fox has Shawn Levy (a popular man right now) overseeing the development with his production company, but he won’t be directly involved, except in helping to find a writer and director for the eventual movie.
If it’s a success, expect the Little Miss characters to get their shot in a sequel before too long, assuming they’re not crammed into the first film.