Yahoo Movies is reporting that Paramount Pictures is developing a feature version of the Newbery Medal-winning children’s book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien. “Director Neil Burger (The Illusionist) is in talks to write the screenplay. The movie would be the second theatrical go-round for the book, which MGM brought to the screen in 1982 as the animated film The Secret of NIMH, directed by Don Bluth.
Robert C. O’Brien’s book has been a staple in children’s bookstores and libraries since it was first published in 1971. The story centers on a mouse — the titular Mrs. Frisby, renamed Mrs. Brisby in the MGM movie — faced with a crisis when her son falls ill and she must move her family to escape a farmer’s plow. Mrs. Frisby enlists a group of former lab rats, whom she soon discovers possess advanced technologies and run a highly evolved society, dividing labor in the manner of a human community.
The new NIMH will likely combine live action and animation in the manner of Alvin and the Chipmunks and other kiddie hybrids.” No word yet on cast members or a planned release date, but we’ll let you know as soon as we do!
