Is it true that the rats of Nimh may soon be on the move again?”
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Paramount smells a rat. As rodents prove surprisingly likable on the big screen, the studio is developing a feature version of the Newbery Medal-winning children’s book “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.” Director Neil Burger (“The Illusionist”) is in talks to write the screenplay. The movie would be the second theatrical go-round for the book, which MGM brought to the screen in 1982 as the animated “The Secret of NIMH,” directed by Don Bluth. Robert C. O’Brien’s book has been a staple in children’s bookstores and libraries since it was first published in 1971. The story centers on a mouse — the titular Mrs. Frisby, renamed Mrs. Brisby in the MGM movie — faced with a crisis when her son falls ill and she must move her family to escape a farmer’s plow. Mrs. Frisby enlists a group of former lab rats, whom she soon discovers possess advanced technologies and run a highly evolved society, dividing labor in the manner of a human community. Usually relega
The rats of NIMH may soon be on the move again. Citing sources at Paramount, both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are saying Neil Burger (The Illusionist) is in talks to adapt Robert C. O’Brien’s award-winning 1971 book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH for a new film, though it remains unclear if the updated version will be animated or live action with animation. The movie would be the second time the book had been brought to the silver screen, with Don Bluth’s beloved, classic 1982 original The Secret of NIMH being the first. That version boasted vocal talents of a wide array of actors — including everyone from the late Elizabeth Hartman and Dom DeLuise, to Shannen Doherty and Wil Wheaton, to Derek Jacobi and John Carradine — and was critically acclaimed for its detailed, hand-drawn animation.
