The immensely muscled superhero mouse is flying into a new generation with a Mighty Mouse movie in the works. No stranger to alteration, the cartoon character is coming to the big screen with Jon and Erich Hoeber - writers of The Meg - tapped to pen the screenplay.
Conceived by Isadore “Izzy” Klein, the character was originally a Super Fly adopted by Paul Terry (of Terrytoons) and turned into Super Mouse. The mouse was a parody of Superman and introduced in 1942. In 1943, 20th Century Fox altered the cartoon again, changing the name Super Mouse to Mighty Mouse. Mighty Mouse and his iconic theme song became a household staple when it tagged a spot on the Saturday morning cartoon lineup in 1955. The adventures and heroics of Mighty Mouse grew stale, until a revival by Ralph Bakshi in 1987 entitled: Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures. There was once the intention to bring Mighty Mouse to the big screen by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios, but the project never gained traction. Now, Paramount Animation is making sure Mighty Mouse can save the day with the development of a feature film.
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According to Deadline, Mighty Mouse is being made into a live-action animation hybrid. The Hoeber brothers have been set to script Mighty Mouse’s newest adventure. The duo handling the script have joined forces before with their work on The Meg, Red and the upcoming film My Spy, starring Dave Bautista. The Meg, starring Jason Statham, is an action-packed underwater monster movie which grossed almost $50 million opening weekend at the box office. With the popularity of the iconic character, and fresh off the recent success of The Meg, no doubt the Hoebers may have another box office headliner on their hands.
Mighty Mouse is in the hands of producers Karen Rosenfelt (Twilight, Percy Jackson & the Olympians) and Robert Cort (Terminator Genisys). As Mighty Mouse moves forward in production, more details will unravel, including the official title, assigned director and casting choices for the live-action roles. Tapping A-list talent for live-action/animation hybrid films drives more interest, as seen with Tom and Jerry eyeing Peter Dinklage and Sesame Street considering Anne Hathaway for their upcoming films.
In an era of reboots and revivals, one focused on an animated series is always hit or miss. The past few years have displayed that no show or topic is off the radar for a rebirth in live-action, including Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog, Mattel and MGM’s View-Master and Disney’s Aladdin. But given the aerobicized rodent’s longevity and familiarity, a Mighty Mouse film certainly stands a chance at finding success.
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Source: Deadline