DreamWorks Animation is ready to fire up the old WABAC Machine again. Jeffrey Katzenberg and company announced today that the studio has taken over plans to make a feature film based on the classic Jay Ward cartoon series Mr. Peabody & Sherman. Director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little, Stuart Little 2) is still attached to helm the project, and Bullwinkle studio’s Tiffany Ward (daughter of the late Jay Ward) and Classic Media’s Eric Ellenbogen will executive produce the project. Producer Jason Clark (Stuart Little, Monster House) will oversee development with Minkoff, and Andrew Kurtzman (Down Periscope, Camp Nowhere) will deliver the new script.
Introduced in 1959 as part of the Rocky & Bullwinkle hour, Mr. Peabody & Sherman follows the time-traveling adventures of two bespectacled pals, a dog genius and his pet boy, who use their WABAC machine to solve history’s mysteries. Historical figures visited by the duo duing the series’ run include William Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, General Custer, Cleopatra, Paul Revere and Francis Bacon. The series was created by Ted Key and produced by Jay Ward Prods.
‘One of the most gratifying relationships in my 20-plus year career of making animated movies has been that of working with Rob Minkoff on The Lion King,’ says DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. ‘I’ve waited more than a decade to have an opportunity to work with him again, so I could not be more excited to welcome him to DreamWorks Animation.’
‘DreamWorks Animation and director Rob Minkoff are the perfect team to bring my dad’s beloved characters to the big screen,’ adds Tiffany Ward.
When the project was first announced back in 2003, it was reported that Minkoff’s Sony-based production company, Sprocketdyne Ent., and Bullwinkle Studios, a joint venture between New York-based Classic Media and Jay Ward Prods., were also contemplating making a new Mr. Peabody & Sherman series. There’s no word on whether or not that will happen now that the project is a DreamWorks.
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