Has the world learned nothing from the most recent attempt to shove the story of The Nutcracker on to our screens? You might recall – or most likely have buried the painful memories of – critical and commercial misfire The Nutcracker in 3D. Universal will certainly be hoping we all have, as the studio is nabbed a pitch for a new, live-action adaptation.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes producing team Peter Chernin and Dylan Clarke are spearheading the new version, which will come from the keyboards of John Mann and Jon Gunn, who have together written Boo U for DreamWorks and a film based around the Magic 8 Ball toy for Paramount.
They’ll spin what the executives now hope will be a fresh look at the familiar story of the 12-year-old girl who, along with her older brother and sister, is given a Nutcracker doll by her inventor/clockmaker grandfather. The doll comes to life and leads the girl off on an adventure that exposes her to a war against a seven-headed rat king and his mouse army. They really had no concept of stranger danger in those days, did they?
There’s no director attached yet, though the film is already racing another live-action adaptation which is being produced by the Twilight team at New Line…