With the comic strip Dilbert having been around since 1989 and having had success with everything from an animated cartoon series to a massive range of merchandise, it’s almost surprising nobody’s managed to make a live action version before. That’s not for lack of trying, as various people have held the rights over the years, with the last being Chris Columbus, who flirted with a Dilbert movie in 2007.
While Columbus is no longer interested, Pajiba reports that Phoenix Entertainment, the company behind Shutter Island, has stepped in to take over and has set Ken Kwapis to direct. He’s both a good and bad choice, as while he’s directed numerous episodes of the Office, and so knows the middle-management milieu Dilbert lives in very well, his film resume is largely rubbish, with movies like Dunston Checks In, License To Wed, The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants and She’s Just Not That Into You on his resume.
Kwapis’ connection to The Office means there’s already speculation they’re going to ask John Krasinski to star as Dilbert (Krasinski is also set to appear in Kwapis’ Everybody Loves Whales, alongside Drew Barrymore), but it’s difficult to see the actor agreeing to make a movie that’s so close in feel to his TV job.