Neil Burger, who wrote The Illusionist and is currently working onThe Bride of Frankenstein for Universal, may next turn his attention to The Secret of NIMH, according to The Hollywood Reporter{
Rodents being all the rage in Hollywood at the moment (G Force, and, er, Alvin and the Chipmunks), NIMH (it stands for National Institute of Mental Health, you know), a story of super-intelligent lab rats on the run from human exterminators, has the potential to be a great animated family adventure. Although, of course, it already was one in 1982.
But the source novel, Robert C O'Brien's Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, is a perennial children's bestseller, and is ripe for the re-adapting. Don Bluth's film wasn't entirely faithful to the book, adding a bit of mysticism and changing Mrs Frisby's name to Brisby, in fear of being sued by the makers of the flying plastic discs.
O'Brien's daughter wrote a couple of post-film sequels too, so there's built-in franchise potential.
Full CGI? Live action with animated rats? Which would you prefer?