The last three to four years have been a dispiriting time for anyone born in the late 80s, and not least because of that tragedy that befalls most people of moderate health- turning thirty. No, of late, the fickle mistress that is cinema has been whoring out our childhood memories to corporate capitalism from the brothel that is Hollywood, and nothing, it seems, will be forgiven chastity. And so, in this culture, we can but utter a dispirited sigh that the series of
Mr Men and Little Miss series of cartoon books
have been optioned by 20th Century Fox
with a view to being plastered onto a screen at the worlds ubiquitous multiplexes. The series of books that began publication in the early 1970s and was created by the late
Roger Hargreaves joins the ranks of Transformers, The A Team
and Thundercats on the long list of re-makes and re-imaginings of 80's fare that swamp what now pass for theatres. Sadly, of course, the reason that such a plundering of simple classic material has been allowed to take place is simple- money. Following the passing of Hargreaves, his wife sold the rights to the characters and stories to Chorion
, who control the rights to a multitude of British childrens classics. And that leads us to today's deal to bring Mr Noisy, Mr. Happy and Mr. Tickle et all to the big screen. In fact, this isnt the first time that tales of the Mr Men
have found their way to the screen. Even in the 1970s, the BBC produced a series heavily based on the original stories and characters and has now achieved classic status- having been repeated numerous times- as well as a less successful follow-up in the late 1990s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GnOh8Dipoc A far less dignified fare which, in all likelihood, provoked the people of Fox to pursue a cinematic project was The Mr Men Show
, produced by American animators
Renegade for the Cartoon Network. The films producer will be the ever busy
Shawn Levy- whom we recently reported was linked with Stallone vehicle,
Headshot and
Fantastic Voyage, although, at this stage, no director has been named (though it's said it won't be Levy), and nor has any timetable for release been suggested.