MGM to Give MRS. FRISBY & THE RATS OF NIMH a New Film Adaptation

MGM has picked up the rights to the classic Robert C. O’Brien children’s book Mrs. Frisby & The Rats of Nimh. The studio has also hired Ice Age 5 scribe Michael Berg to take on the scripting duties. 

According to Deadline, the film will be a live-action and CG animated hybrid. They also say that Berg is looking to focus on an origin story in which “an imperiled mouse protagonist befriends a comical crew of lab rats as they turn hyper-intelligent. They escape a secret laboratory and become the great minds of vermin civilization, forced to outwit the humans hot on their tails.” That’s basically the premise of the story.

The studio is hoping that the property can be turned into a successful franchise. This isn’t the first time the book has been adapted into a movie. Back in 1982, Don Bluth developed The Secret of NIMH, which was the first movie he made after he left Disney to form his own animation studio. This was a movie that I grew up with and loved. Because of that, I’m curious to see how this new film turns out.

Here’s the description of the story from the book:

Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.
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