Warner Bros., hoping to create an ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS-esque family franchise, will turn cat and mouse duo Tom and Jerry into CG characters that live in the real world, per VARIETY.
Dan Lin will adapt the Hanna-Barbera property as an origin story how the characters met and form their rivalry before getting lost in Chicago and reluctantly working together to get home. Lin, with WB, is producing SHERLOCK HOLMES and is exec producing TERMINATOR SALVATION.
Eric Gravning is working on the script. WB owns several of Hanna-Barbera's animated characters and has plans to bring others to the big screen -- Robert Rodriguez is working on THE JETSONS and producer Donald De Line is on YOGI BEAR.
Warner Bros. first used this CG-live action in SPACE JAM with Michael Jordon in 1996, then using it again for Brendan Fraser's LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION in 2003 and the highly-successful SCOOBY-DOO franchise that has a two-film theatrical gross of $457 million and a direct-to-DVD feature in the works.
Fox's ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS earned $360 million worldwide, besting even Fox's expectations. A sequel is in the works for 2010.
Familiarity with the characters means worldwide box office, DVDs, games and merchandising will do well, and makes the film's price tag easier for studios to digest.
TOM AND JERRY started off life as a series of 114 animated shorts from MGM's animation studio between 1940 and 1960, winning seven Academy Awards along the way. Warner Bros. also released a full-length animated film, TOM AND JERRY: THE MOVIE in 1992 after new cartoons were created and older ones were syndicated.
