Here we have a story from Variety that I delayed posting only because it doesn’t sound like it stands on solid ground, but it also has a few encouraging statments.
It seems Warner Bros. has picked up the rights to the feature film adaptation to Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are” from Universal Pictures after the studio abandoned the project.
The main reason for the move by Uni was that they were having the damndest time getting a script together. Apparently “figuring out a way to turn the 338-word ‘Wild Things’ story into a movie has been a long process, with multiple helmers and writers weighing in.”
As of right now Spike Jonze is set to helm the feature based on a screenplay he and novelist Dave Eggers penned, but details on that version of the script have been closely held, but we do know that the feature will be live-action feature and will likely require a sizable CGI budget. Production on the feature is expected to get underway late next year with, what I can only assume, what would be a holiday 2008 release date. That is if everything stays its course.
According to the Variety article, “Universal and Sendak did not see eye-to-eye on the concept, but the current vision of the pic has the strong support of Sendak, who told the New York Times in October, ‘I am in love with it. If Spike and Dave do not do this movie now, I would just as soon not see any version of it ever get made.'”
So, Uni placed the pic in turnaround allowing the producers to shop it around and low and behold, here came Warners to pick it up. We will just have to wait and see what happens next.
