‘Manimal’ Might be Coming to the Big Screen

The premise of 'Manimal' - the NBC show from 1983 that ran a scant eight episodes - was that main character Dr. Jonathan Chase (played by Simon MacCorkindale) could turn into any animal of his choosing, and did so to fight crime. He is a Man-Animal, or Manimal for short. For anyone who wasn't around when the show hit the air, the only reason why you might know of it is because the title became a punchline. That hasn't deterred Sony Pictures Animation, who are looking to turn it into a movie.

This news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, who note that the idea is now going out to writers. And as Sony Pictures Animation has it, that suggests it's going to be kid-friendly. Which is slightly better than it going dark and gothic, but only just.

Theoretically this isn't bad news. As much as the premise of rebooting 'Manimal' is absurd based on the show's non-existent fanbase (okay, maybe there's a handful of people who still love the show, it's possible), essentially the studio bought a premise that can be turned into anything. Much like the Ouija board movie or 'Battleship,' when you decide to make a movie out of something like this, you can do anything you want as long as the basics are covered (in this case, there has to be a man who can turn into an animal). Hopefully it will be reasonably entertaining, though will probably draw heavily from the 'Twilight' franchise.