Peanuts movie to bring Charlie Brown to the big screen

Peanuts – Charles M. Schulz’ beloved comic strip about hapless every-kid Charlie Brown – is finally going to be given the movie treatment. Peanuts is one of the most iconic and well known comic strips in history, and though we’ve never had a movie based on it, the franchise did find success with some holiday specials for television, most notably in A Charlie Brown Christmas. If you haven’t seen it, just think of any holiday special cartoon you can. Whatever you thought of, it was influenced by A Charlie Brown Christmas.

But now Twentieth Century Fox will be bringing Charlie, Snoopy and the gang back to the masses. The film is set to be directed by Horton Hears a Who! director Steve Martino (who we still sort of hope is just Steve Martin in character, with a bad moustache and a semi-racist Mexican accent), from a screenplay by Craig Schulz (Charles’ son). There are further Schulz family connections, with his grandson Bryan being a part of the writing team, along with the incredibly monikered Cornelius Uliano.

Charlie Brown and Snoopy are still recognised today, despite Peanuts being an altogether bigger deal in America than it ever was here in the UK, and there’s sure to be interest in a film version. Quite what it will look like is yet unclear. The animation style of Peanuts isn’t the most sophisticated; will they try and jazz it up for the new millennium? Or would keeping the pleasingly retro style actually be quite refreshing?

No details of plot either, but we hope it focuses on Snoopy, Woodstock and the rest of the gang more than Charlie Brown, who is, when you boil it down, dull as a dishcloth. Not even a comedy dishcloth, with a slogan on it. Just a regular dishcloth, that can’t even kick a fucking football. Besides, we’ve already had the perfect live-action Charlie Brown in Arrested Development‘s George Michael. And that’s another point; given that Arrested Development took such delight in spoofing and referencing the Peanuts universe, will we be able to take any of it seriously?

We’ll find out on November 25th, 2015, when the film is due for release. That’s is a long way off, but there’s a reason for the date. It ties in rather nicely with the 65th anniversary of the first Peanuts comic strip and the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas. It’s also one day before Charles M. Schulz’ birthday. How do I know when his birthday is? BECAUSE IT’S MY BIRTHDAY TOO!

The campaign to get me a role in the film starts here.

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