Paramount has apparently decided that rodents are the way to go, as after the success of Alvin & The Chipmunks and G-Force, they’re developing a new feature film version of Robert C. O’Brien’s classic children’s novel, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The story was previously brought to the big screen as a Don Bluth animated movie in 1982.
However rather than being purely animated, The Hollywood Reporter has noted that the new NIMH is likely to combine live action and CG animation. Perhaps surprisingly, Neil Burger is in talks to directs. He’s previously only made rather more adult fare, such as The Illusionist and The Lucky Ones, as well as getting hired to script a remake of Bride Of Frankenstein, although he could be a good person to deal with the complex and somewhat dark themes of NIMH, which makes it a far more tricky proposition than most rodent family fare.
The book follows Mrs. Frisby, a rat who needs to move her family, including a sick son, in order to escape a farmer’s plow. She enlists the help of a group of former lab rats who have their own society and possess advanced technologies. There’s no news yet when the film might appear in cinemas.