Deadline is reporting that Millennium Films has signed an exclusive deal with the estate of Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey, authors of the children’s book series Curious George, and has set a project in development which will explore the origin of the beloved character and tell the true story of its creators.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have the Rey estate’s complete confidence and consent, and the approval of Lay Lee, to tell this story. We are also grateful to our friend and writer, Sam Cohan, for bringing us the project,” said Jonathan Yunger, co-president of Millennium Media.
The movie will be based upon Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s documentary Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators, which explored the remarkable lives of H.A. and Margret Rey, who fled Nazi persecution in Europe, eventually making their way to New York City where Curious George was published in 1941.
“The epitome of mixing passion with business is being blessed to tell this tremendous story of the great lengths H.A. and Margaret Rey went through to save their manuscript, while fleeing Nazi occupied Europe for their lives. Curious George went on to inspire and charm millions worldwide, and soon, so shall the Reys’ unbelievable true story,” added Millennium’s new president Jeffrey Greenstein.
Last year, it was announced that Universal Pictures had tapped Andrew Adamson, director of the first two instalments of the Shrek and The Chronicles of Narnia franchises, to helm a live-action Curious George movie, although the Millennium deal has presumably put an end to that particular project.
