Warner Bros Pictures Animation To Adapt Animal Planet Series ‘Meerkat Manor’ For Big Screen
16.04.2024 - 16:35
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is heading to the Discovery vault to adapt their Animal Planet series, Meerkat Manor, into a feature animated movie. Think Happy Feet. That George Miller hatched franchise which centered around tap-dancing penguins raked in over a half billion at the global box office.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s Animal Planet first aired Meerkat Manor in 2005, with the series becoming the network’s highest rated show over its four seasons. The Emmy-nominated series reached 204 million households in more than 160 countries on the Animal Planet platform alone.
The Animal Planet docuseries followed the Whiskers, a family of meerkats, as they struggled to survive in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert. Similar to Happy Feet, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation will use photoreal animation to capture the Whiskers for their feature film debut.
The Meerkat Manor movie will be produced by Seth Green and Tracy Falco of The Green Room. Pic’s EPs are original series creator Caroline Hawkins as well as Clare Birks of Oxford Scientific Films (OSF). OSF is owned by ITV Studios.
Said Bill Damaschke, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, “As we continue to grow our animated feature film slate, we are excited to bring the beloved Meerkat Manor from WBD’s Animal Planet to the big screen. Along with our partners Tracy, Seth, OSF and ITV Studios, we look forward to creating a photoreal animated family adventure for the next generation and seeing our meerkat friends make their feature film debut in way they’ve never been seen before.”
Said Hawkins, “It’s 20 years since we experimented with a wildlife soap opera in a London basement, and now here we are. What greater evidence could there be of the enduring appeal of