Sony Pictures Animation has acquired the motion picture rights to Janet Foxley’s prize-winning book Muncle Trogg. The deal was announced by Bob Osher, president of Sony Pictures Digital Productions—who describes the story as “one of the most original” he’s come across—and Michelle Raimo-Kouyate, president of production for Sony Pictures Animation. The preemptive deal is Raimo-Kouyate’s first acquisition since her appointment as president of production.
“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,” said Raimo-Kouyate about the project, which will be exec produced by Jane Startz (Elle Enchanted, Tuck Everlasting) and co-produced by Jane Startz Productions Inc.’s VP of development Kane Lee.
“I am thrilled to be working on Muncle Trogg with Michelle Raimo-Kouyate and her colleagues at Sony Pictures Animation,” said veteran book-to-screen producer Startz, “Michelle and I have worked together many times in the past so I am confident that ‘our little Muncle’ is in the best possible hands.”
The book, already a hit in the U.K. and Australia, is about a fairytale community inside a volcano, hidden from the human world, in which lives Muncle: the world’s smallest giant. It is published by The Chicken House in U.K./Australia and will be published by The Chicken House/Scholastic imprint in spring 2012 for the U.S. and Canada.
