Back at the end of 2014, European production company On Entertainment scooped up the rights to Lego rival Playmobil, put together $80m in financing and hired DreamWorks Animation's Bob Persichetti to start developing a film based on the toys. There's no mention of Perischetti this morning, but the project now has a director. Veteran Disney animator Lino DiSalvo has got the gig.
Invented by German cabinetmaker Hans Beck, after he pitched a line of model planes to toy company geobra Brandstätter and was asked to develop figures instead, the first Playmobil line arrived in 1974 comprising knights, Native Americans and construction workers. While it took a little while to gain acceptance, the figures took off in popularity and started worldwide sales in 1975. They’ve been huge ever since, selling more than 2.7 billion sets. There are even some straight-to-DVD movies already.
DiSalvo's 17 years at Disney saw him working on the likes of Tangled and Bolt, and he was head of animation on the jaw-droppingly successful Frozen. His challenge now will be to find a fresh take for the Playmobil story, much as the Lego team managed, without repeating their clever, meta-referencing structure.
"I've learned most of my skills by growing up in the Disney system," DiSalvo says. "I am thrilled at the prospect of developing the Playmobil film. As a father and a filmmaker, to create a film about your son’s favorite toy, what else do you want?"
On Entertainment recently produced the award-winning new animated adaptation of the classic The Little Prince. They're aiming to have Playmobil ready for the end of 2018.