DreamWorks Animation has enlisted screenwriter Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder, Men in Black 3) to pen an adaptation of award-winning author Aaron Blabey’s bestselling Scholastic book series The Bad Guys.
Variety reports that the film will revolve around “four “bad guys” — Mr. Wolf, Mr. Shark, Mr. Snake, and Mr. Piranha — who, after growing tired of others screaming and running away from them, decide to become a force for good… despite their affinity for being bad.”
The synopsis for the first book in the series reads:
“They sound like bad guys, they look like bad guys… and they even smell like bad guys. But Mr. Wolf, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Snake, and Mr. Shark are about to change all of that. Mr. Wolf has a daring plan for the Bad Guys’ first good mission. They are going to break two hundred dogs out of the Maximum Security City Dog Pound. Will Operation Dog Pound go smoothly? Will the Bad Guys become the Good Guys? And will Mr. Snake please stop swallowing Mr. Piranha?!”
Cohen has previously worked with DreamWorks Animation, penning the script for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Next up he has the comedy Holmes and Watson, which is set for release in December 2018 and sees him directing Will Ferrell as Sherlock Holmes and John C. Reilly as Dr. John Watson.
