During an interview with Screen Rant to promote the release of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi drama Arrival, Shawn Levy has revealed that he’s developing a new big screen version of the long-running children’s TV show Sesame Street.
“Sesame Street is at Warner Bros and we are right now working on a treatment for what I think is going to be a really imaginative and entertaining take on that beloved and decades-old global brand,” said Levy. “The trick there is to honour these characters that are beloved, but in a movie that feels entertaining for the kids who we might bring to the movie – and humorous for those parents who bring their kids. It’s early – we’re still at the treatment stage, but very bullish on that.”
Sesame Street has previously spawned two feature films in 1985’s Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird and 1999’s Elmo in Grouchland.
Levy is a busy man at present; he’s currently serving as executive producer on the second season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, as well as producing the feature films The Darkest Minds, Kin, Echo and Why Him?. He’s also attached to direct a remake of Starman, along with the video game adaptation Uncharted.
Originally published November 10, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
