There is absolutely no point in acting surprised about this whatsoever. This was always going to happen – and happen sooner rather than later.
With the release of the arcade-game inspired invasion film Pixels looming, Sony Pictures has emerged victorious from a bidding war for a film based on Emojis.
Three studios – Sony, Paramount, and Warner Bros – put their hands up for the film pitch, which would see the ever-popular text icons thrust into their very own film, with Sony ultimately winning the rights with a bid that reportedly neared seven figures.
Unlike Pixels, which is a mix of live-action and animation, the Emoji film is, for the time being, designed to be a fully animated feature. The real juicy part for the studio is that – unlike other properties such as, say, LEGO – Emojis aren’t actually governed by any underlying rights, meaning the studio has free reign to use them however they see fit; not unlike fairy tales that sit in the public domain.
The film will be co-written by Eric Siegel (who has worked as a producer on shows like Men at Work, and the short-lived but underrated Traffic Light) and Anthony Leondis (who previously wrote the straight-to-video Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, and directed the Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters short). Leondis will also direct the film.
Whether you like it or not, this is a thing that’s going to happen. You cannot escape it. It cannot un-exist. Winky face.
via Deadline.
