“Manimal” fans, rejoice: a big-screen treatment of the cult '80s TV series is coming to the big screen.
Gary Sanchez partners Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are producing a live-action/animated hybrid of the show for Sony Pictures Animation, according to Deadline. Though the original series (which centered on a wealthy crimefighter capable of shapeshifting into a variety of different animals) played the concept straight, the film version is being billed as an action-comedy “with heavy visual effects and animated elements.” The film will be written by “Key & Peele” scribes Jay Martel and Ian Roberts.
“Like 'The Catcher in the Rye' or 'The Sound and the Fury,' 'Manimal' has always been one of those elusive projects every producer dreams of taking to the silver screen,” said McKay in a statement. “I know the movie will be funny and entertaining but will it be the first film to win a Pulitzer? We”ll just have to see.”
Created by Glen A. Larson (also serving as a producer on the big-screen reboot) and starring Simon MacCorkindale, “Manimal” ran on NBC for eight episodes in the fall of 1983 before being canceled due to low ratings. Nevertheless, the show rose to the status of “camp classic” in the intervening years, allowing for its present-day revival.
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