Oh, bother! The golden age of animation is over.
Walt Disney Pictures is developing a live-action version of Winnie The Pooh, Deadline reported Thursday. The news comes three days after the studio confirmed it is developing a live-version version of 1998's animated musical Mulan. The new Winnie The Pooh will follow "Christopher Robin as an adult, which brings him back to A.A. Milne's famous bear and the Hundred Acre Wood," according to the website.
E! News confirms that the project is in early development.
Alex Ross Perry has been hired to work on the script and direct the feature.
It's unclear whether the non-human characters—including Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Kanga, Owl, Piglet, Rabbit, Roo and Tigger—will be computer animated or filmed using real animals and actors' voiceovers.
What is clear, however, is valuable the franchise is for the film studio. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh debuted in 1977. The Tigger Movie followed in 2000, and over an 11-year period, Piglet's Big Movie, Pooh's Heffalump Movie and Winnie the Pooh were released in movie theaters around the world.
Disney Channel aired the live-action series Welcome to Pooh Corner from 1983 to 1986. In 1988, Disney launched the animated series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which aired from 1988 to 1991. The characters also appeared in several spinoff series for Playhouse Disney, aimed at preschool-age kids.
In addition to Winnie the Pooh and Mulan, Walt Disney Pictures is developing live-action adaptations of Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, The Jungle Book and Pete's Dragon. The studio has been on a roll with its live-action versions of its classic animated films. Its most recent offering, Cinderella, has earned $336.2 million worldwide since its March 13 debut. Alice in Wonderland grossed $1.02 billion in 2010, and its sequel, Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, is slated for release on May 27, 2016. Angelina Jolie's Maleficent, inspired by 1959's Sleeping Beauty, earned $758.4 million worldwide after its 2014 release.