Peter Pan, and the mythology surrounding the character, has been slowly but surely coming back into the public eye. On the TV side, NBC will be premiering a live staging of Peter Pan Live! and is in development on Peter and Wendy, a rom-com take on the relationship between Peter Pan and Wendy, whilst Fox is crafting League of Pan, a gritty supernatural drama centered on Peter’s band of Lost Boys. On the film side, Warner Bros has Pan, an origin story film for the character set to come out next summer (see the trailer here). But not to be outdone, 20th Century Fox is crafting a Peter Pan film of its own, centering on a very familiar element of the Peter Pan mythos: Tinker Bell.
According to Deadline, 20th Century Fox has acquired an untitled Tinker Bell comedy-adventure film that will have actress and comedian Melissa McCarthy starring as the popular character and Shawn Levy (Night of the Museum movies, Real Steel, This Is Where I Leave You) in the director’s chair.
The concept was hatched by Levy and McCarthy, who will both produce the film through their respective production banners (21 Laps and On The Day).
The script is being written by Nicholas Stoller. Stoller recently directed Neighbors and wrote The Muppets, its sequel, Muppets Most Wanted, and Sex Tape. In the world of animation, he is scripting Storks for Warner Bros and Captain Underpants for DreamWorks Animation.
Shawn Levy is currently putting the finishing touches on the third and final Night of the Museum movie and is attached to two other major projects: 40 Thieves for Fox and an adaptation of the video game Minecraft for Warner Bros. It’s not known at this time which film he will do next, but it’s possible that this film might take top priority due to already having a star and writer attached.
Sounds like we are in for a rather unusual take on Tinker Bell and, to a larger extent, the world of Peter Pan. Melissa McCarthy certainly isn’t who you’d expect when you think of Tinker Bell, and Shawn Levy and Nicholas Stoller’s commitments to the project definitely signal a more comedic angle to the proceedings. But then again, if you’re going to join the growing wave of studios fashioning their own take on the world of Peter Pan, you might as well do something that’s guaranteed to differentiate yourself from the pack.
What do you think? What are your thoughts on Melissa McCarthy as Tinker Bell?
