Hollywood is always on the lookout for potential animated projects, simply becasue the family market is so potentially lucrative, and now Variety reports that Sony Pictures animation has acquired the rights to Janet Foxley’s award-winning Children’s book Muncle Trogg, which follows the adventures of a community living inside a volcano, hidden away from humankind.
Sony’s Raimo-Kouyate says they likes that the book has, “Strong characters, relatable themes, a unique world and tons of inherent comedy: as soon as I read Muncle Trogg, I knew this would speak to the kinds of animated movies I want to make at Sony Pictures Animation.”
While a hit in the UK and Australia, the purchase is still a bit of a pre-emptive strike on Sony’s part, as Muncle Trogg won’t hit stateside bookshelves until the spring of 2012.
Here’s the description of the book from Amazon: Giants live on top of Mount Grumble, hidden from humans below. But not all of them are big. Muncle Trogg is so small that he’s laughed at by the others for being human-sized. Fed up, he decides to take a look at the ‘Smallings’ that he’s meant to look like. But what he discovers is very surprising indeed… Winner of The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2010, Muncle Trogg is the charming upside down fairytale about a tiny giant who saves the day.