Be calm childhood memories, as it seems that the feature-film future of one of television's most beloved Saturday morning cartoon characters is in the (mostly) capable hands of Universal and Illumination Entertainment.
According to Deadline, Chris Meledandri (Ice Age) of Illumination, the studio behind Despicable Me and The Lorax, along with John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky (Beavis and Butt-head, King of the Hill) from Universal Pictures have been set to write the script for Woody Woodpecker.
Created in 1940, the unmistakable red-headed beak-tapper has had numerous reincarnations over the years on the early morning cartoon circuit, but this will be the first time the lovable scamp will appear on the big screen.
Normally, a money-grubbing update of a classic character (especially one I personally grew up with) would have me slamming my own head into a wall. However, considering Illumination’s track record (and the oddly fitting inclusion of Altschuler and Krinsky) I will stand optimistic as long as they go the purely animated way of The Lorax and not the CGI/live-action combo of Hop.
