‘Pink Panther’: MGM Developing Live-Action/CGI Hybrid Movie With ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’s Jeff Fowler Directing

MGM is looking to bring back the classic animated character Pink Panther in a big way as it has set Jeff Fowler direct a new live-action/CGI hybrid feature film centered on the iconic cat. Chris Bremner will write MGM’s modern reimagining, with Lawrence Mirisch, Julie Andrews Edwards of Geoffrey Productions, Rideback’s Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich producing. Walter Mirisch and Rideback’s Ryan Halprin will executive produce.

Fowler is no stranger to the genre, having helmed the live-action hybrid Sonic the Hedgehog adaptation for Paramount. The film was one of the biggest hits of 2020 and Paramount has already put a sequel in development.

“Popular the world over, the legacy of the iconic Pink Panther has endured for more than 50 years and continues to be discovered by new generations,” said Michael De Luca, MGM Film Group chairman, and Pamela Abdy, MGM Film Group president. “We are so happy to come together with Jeff, Chris, Larry, Julie, Dan, Jonathan, Walter and Ryan to bring one of MGM’s most well-loved franchise back to the big screen and in a way audience have never seen before.”

The Pink Panther is MGM’s longest and most successful comedy franchise, created by writer-director Blake Edwards, Julie Andrews Edwards’ late husband, in partnership with producer Walter Mirisch.

In 1964, The Mirisch Company produced Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther starring Peter Sellers as a bumbling French detective, and Edwards wrote and directed eight titles in the series. The film also introduced the world to Henry Mancini’s memorable “Pink Panther” theme, which was nominated for an Academy Award. That same year the first theatrical cartoon was produced, based on the character in the film’s main title sequence. The cartoons were made by De Patie-Freleng Enterprises. The Pink Phink won the Oscar for the Best Animated Short in 1964, and the Pink Panther was shown on movie screens until the 1970s. The Pink Panther Show started its television run in 1969 and ran through 1994. Pink Panther cartoons are still shown on TV around the world.

Bremner recently wrote for Sony Pictures Bad Boys for Life and is currently writing the next installment of the franchise, as well as National Treasure 3, the latest iteration of Disney’s history-based adventure movies. He is also writing the Paramount/Hasbro film M.A.S.K., which will be directed by F. Gary Gray.

WME reps Fowler. UTA, Kaplan/Perrone and Ziffren Brittenham rep Bremner. Steve Sauer of Media Four and Sol Rosenthal of Arnold & Porter rep Andrews Edwards. Sol Rosenthal reps Walter and Lawrence Mirisch.