Fox To Adapt "Ferdinand"

aerostarmonk · February 20, 2011, 3:13pm

How did I completely space on posting this? As many of you know I love being a newshound. In fact I’m now a reporter over at ToonZone. So how could I have possibly neglected to tell you about Fox Animation studio acquiring the rights to The Story of Ferdinand, everyone’s favorite 1936 tale of a pacifist bull by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson. That’s right there was another one. But we won’t talk about That’s A Load… The Real Story of Ferdinand. It’s better left forgotten

Experienced helmer Carlos Saldhana is reportedly directing the project. My guess would be once the press tour for his new film, Rio, wraps up.

The following tidbit really amused me:

[url=http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/02/the_story_of_ferdinand.html]

Vulture:

[/url]While the deal with Fox represents the first feature-film adaptation, it’s not the first time Ferdinand has appeared on the big screen: Disney released it as an animated short in 1938, winning an Oscar in that category. (If you haven’t seen the short, drop everything and do so; it’s a classic and only seven minutes long.) As such, there’s more than a little irony to Ferdinand’s Disney pedigree: Martin Bright, who represents the estate of illustrator Robert Lawson, tells Vulture that unlike almost every other animated property in the Disney vault, the Burbank studio oddly failed to get a contract with Mssrs. Leaf and Lawson that went beyond its onetime use as a short film. Bright notes that after Ferdinand’s cameo in Disney’s The Blind Side, he received a rash of calls from producers and studios who were bullish on Ferdinand for a feature, but that he opted to make a deal with Fox Animation since they’d been interested even before Bullock’s onscreen reading.

What are your thoughts? Sound off below!

JustSteve · February 20, 2011, 11:10pm

Thanks, aerostarmonk, for this informational splendor in the grass…or was that clover? Long-time fan of Ferdinand here, so this is an easy sell. If Blue Sky does with Ferdinand what they did with Horton, this will be a most welcome film. The story’s structure is sufficiently open that, like Horton, it lends itself to expansion without damaging the primary flow. Good news all around!

P.S., Re: the ToonZone gig…good for you!