'Calvin and Hobbes' - a comic strip that hasn't run since 1995 - has seen a run of popularity this year. There was the documentary 'Dear Mr. Watterston' about a filmmaker's attempts to get 'Calvin' creator Bill Watterson to break his legendary silence. Then, Watterson broke his legendary silence...only not to that filmmaker. And now Leonardo DiCaprio is getting in on the fun, producing an upcoming film on one of the most influential comic strips of all-time.

Still untitled, DiCaprio is teaming with producer Roy Lee ('Sherlock Holmes') to adapt the script 'A Boy and His Tiger,' a biopic that follows Watterson's career from an untested artist to struggling with the unexpected success of the strip and his decision to retire 'Calvin and Hobbes' while still immensely popular.

DiCaprio brought the script, by Dan Dollar, to Warner Bros. who have picked it up and put the project into development. It would appear that the project will move forward without the blessing of Watterson himself and we have no reason to believe otherwise. (He's given two interviews, by e-mail, over the past 20 years. We can't imagine he'd suddenly be OK with a movie being made about his life.)

If it goes well, it could be like the 'Saving Mr. Banks' of comic strip movies. The only difference there was that Disney made that movie and owned the rights to all the characters. It will be interesting to see if Warner Bros. can make a movie about 'Calvin and Hobbes' without any of the 'Calvin and Hobbes' rights. It seems like a good idea and something that could wind up being a good movie, but we have some doubts about whether it will ever happen.

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