Movies have been made from theme park rides (Pirates of the Caribbean), from trading cards (Mars Attacks!, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie), from self-help books (He’s Just Not That Into You), from boardgames (Clue, Battleship, Ouija), from grim post-apocalyptic fake-oral histories written by the son of Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks (World War Z), even from apps (The Angry Birds Movie). But if the Hello Kitty movie ever gets off the ground — and it just might — it will be the first motion picture based on a brand that began as a change purse.
Yes, a Hello Kitty is definitely a thing that may be happening, according to Deadline. New Line Cinema is working with FlynnPictureCo and Japanese company Sanrio to mount an English-language film adaptation of Japan’s iconic cartoon character — an adorbs feline with a red bow, a button nose, three whiskers on each side of her face, and, semi-creepily, zero mouth.
What will she be doing in this film? Who knows! Deadline semi-ominously reports that Team Hello Kitty Movie will “now have to come up with a narrative, but sometimes the hardest part for movies is to anchor it around a recognizable brand.” But perhaps it won’t be that difficult: Since its conception in 1974, Hello Kitty has aggressively erected a broad mythology, with numerous characters. In other words, get ready for the “Hello Kitty Extended Universe.”
This isn’t the first time a Hello Kitty movie was attempted. There was a stab back in 2015, which would have had cost somewhere between $160 million and $240 million. This new iteration may not cost that much, but who knows in this spendthrift movie era?
Over the 45 years she’s been a brand, Hello Kitty has served as fodder for TV shows, manga comics, anime films, video games, even theme parks. But she’s best known as a symbol plastered on products. She began life as an image on change purses. The branding soon evolved to include dolls, stickers, stationary, clothes, jewelry, restaurants, toasters, televisions, computers, electric guitars, and, of course, planes.
We leave you with the Hello Kitty product that will surely outlast us all, surviving as the final proof of humanity’s existence: Avril Lavigne’s song “Hello Kitty” from 2014.
(Via Deadline)
