‘Playmobil’ Animated Feature in Development, Arriving in 2017

Does anybody remember Playmobil, a line of toys and themed sets that’s kind of similar to LEGO? If you do, than this news might surprise you.

According to Variety, Paris-based ON Entertainment is teaming up with Wild Bunch and Pathe to produce an animated feature based on the Playmobil toy brand.

Budgeted at $80 million, production on the film will commence in Montreal at On Entertainment’s animation division. Pathe will be co-developing the feature along with Wild Bunch, who will also be handling worldwide distribution.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. Spearheading the development of the film is Bob Persichetti, who spent quite a bit of time at Dreamworks Animation as the head of story on films such as Monsters Vs. Aliens, Shrek 2, and Puss in Boots. He will also be working with the same creative team that’s now at work on Kung Fu Panda co-director Mark Osbourne’s animated adaptation of The Little Prince, which is also being produced by ON.

There’s no doubt in my mind that this year’s The LEGO Movie had a sizable influence on the decision to bring Playmobil into the world of animation. Even though Playmobil doesn’t have the pop-culture characters and worlds that Lego has at its disposal, the themed sets should nevertheless provide plenty of narrative material to go off of.

The film is expected for a late-2017 release window.

What do you think? Would a Playmobil movie work the way The LEGO Movie did?