Sony Pictures Animation buys rights to MUNCLE TROGG

Sony Pictures Animation has just purchased the movie rights to Janet Foxley’s children’s book Muncle Trogg. Jane Startz (Ella Enchanted, Indian in the Cupboard and The Mighty) will serve as executive producer with Kane Lee of Jane Startz Productions co-produces. This marks the first acquisition from newly installed Sony Pictures Animation president Michelle Raimo-Kouyate.

Here is what Raimo-Kouyate had to say about the deal:

“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."  

The book is the winner of the 2010 Times/Chicken House children’s fiction prize which seeks to honor unpublished authors. Trogg’s win led to a book deal which saw the book released in the UK and Australia; Chicken House/Scholastic will publish the book in the US and Canada in spring 2012. The story is set "in a community of giants who live a volcano and centers on a tiny giant (which makes him human-sized) laughed at for his size. He ends up saving his family in a story that involves a solar-powered dragon, a disgraced brother and a kidnapped child."

Sounds like a cute book and one that will make a nice family friendly film. What are your thoughts on this news?