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Disney Reviving 'Chip 'n' Dale' for Live-Action Feature

Disney’s classic cartoon chipmunk duo, Chip ‘n’ Dale, is being revived with plans for a live-action/CG hybrid big-screen feature.

Chip ‘n’ Dale, Disney’s classic cartoon chipmunk duo, is being revived with the goal of becoming a big-screen feature, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter.

The studio has picked up a pitch from award-winning commercials director Robert Rugan, who is writing an updated take on the characters in what is being envisioned as a live-action/CG hybrid.

Mandeville Films/TV, the Disney-based production company run by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman -- also behind the studio’s Muppets franchise -- is producing.

Chip ‘n’ Dale first appeared in a 1943 animated short starring Pluto, and went on to appear in 22 reels stretching into the mid-1950s where the duo either annoyed Mickey’s faithful four-legged friend or squared off against Donald Duck. 

They popped up in various Disney cartoons and comics but got a makeover in in 1989 with Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers. The show saw Chip, the brains behind the pair, and Dale, the goofball, running a detective agency and helping animal clients. Disney made three seasons' worth of shows that then ran in syndication for the next decade on The Disney Channel. 

It is from Rescue Rangers that the new project would spring as it tells an origin story of sorts. 

Mandeville's Alexander Young is overseeing the film and will executive produce.

Live-action/CG hybrids have proven to be quite successful. Fox is in the process of making a fourth Alvin and the Chipmunks picture while Sony Pictures Animation made two Smurfs movies.

Mandeville's Muppets Most Wanted hits theaters March 21.

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.