Jon & Erich Hoeber have been hired by Paramount Animation to pen a screenplay for a “hybrid” film– presumably, a mix of animation and live-action– featuring ‘Mighty Mouse’. The picture will be produced by Karen Rosenfelt and Robert Cort. The Hoeber’s last movie, Warner Brothers’ ‘The Meg’ took in $530.2 million worldwide at the box office.
Jon & Erich Hoeber also penned the script for the upcoming action-comedy ‘My Spy’ starring Dave Bautista. Previous screenplays include the ‘Red’ series, ‘Battleship’, and ‘Whiteout’. They are also reportedly looking to turn ‘Red’ into a TV series, and are attached to pen the script for a ‘Naruto’ movie.
Originally a parody of Superman, Mighty Mouse was named “Super Mouse” and was created by Paul Terry for Terrytoons, and he premiered in the animated short “The Mouse of Tomorrow.” Super Mouse appeared in seven shorts, before his name was changed to Mighty Mouse, to avoid legal action. His blue and red costume was also switched to yellow and orange. The character would go on to star in 80 theatrical shorts, which began airing on television in 1955.
Around 1945, the cartoons became more musically-based with a lot of dialogue sung. And of course, while flying into action, Mighty Mouse would sing “Here I come to save the day…” Modern audiences may best remember eccentric comedian Andy Kaufman lipsynching to this in his shows, which was recreated when Jim Carrey played Kaufman in the 1999 biopic ‘Man on the Moon’.
In the cartoons, Mighty Mouse’s love interest was named Pearl Pureheart, while his nemesis was a cat named Oil Can Harry.
New cartoons starring the character were created and aired by Filmation in 1979, and Ralph Bakshi in 1987. Bakshi’s take is notorious for the controversy surrounding an episode in which the character was shown sniffing a white powder, which was interpreted as him snorting cocaine.
A feature film has been kicking around since 2004, but this is the first major development since then.
Check back for updates as they arrive!
Source: Deadline
