Twentieth Century Fox Animation Acquires Rights to Horton Hears a Who

Twentieth Century Fox Animation Acquires Rights to Dr. Seuss Classic, Horton Hears a Who

Following almost two years of negotiations, Twentieth Century Fox Animation has acquired rights to turn the Dr. Seuss classic, Horton Hears a Who, into a computer generated animated feature film, it was announced today by Chris Meledandri, president of Twentieth Century Fox Animation.

Blue Sky Studios, the New York-based unit of Twentieth Century Fox Animation, will produce Horton Hears a Who. Previously, Blue Sky produced the blockbuster animated feature "Ice Age." Horton Hears a Who is scheduled to follow Blue Sky's next feature, "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown," which is currently in production.

Fox made the deal for Horton Hears a Who with Audrey Geisel, widow of Theodor Geisel, who penned his beloved novels under the name "Dr. Seuss." Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio are currently writing the screenplay.

Commented Chris Meledandri: "I have always wanted to do a digitally animated Dr. Seuss movie, and Horton Hears a Who has the right narrative structure to make a wonderful film."

Fox has also acquired the rights to the second book in the "Horton" series, "Horton Hatches the Egg."

One of the world's largest producers and distributors of motion pictures, Fox Filmed Entertainment produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world. These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units of FFE: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox Animation.

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