Andrew Adamson To Direct Live-Action ‘Curious George’ For Universal

EXCLUSIVE: Andrew Adamson in negotiations to direct and co-write Curious George, a live-action adaptation for Universal Pictures based on the children’s book series written by Margret & H.A. Rey. Adamson, who showed a flair for family fare in directing, producing and scripting the first two installments of The Chronicles of Narnia series, will executive produce. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will produce for Imagine Entertainment, alongside David Kirschner and Jon Shapiro. Imagine’s Erica Huggins also will produce. Universal first turned Curious George, with the adorable primate and the man in the yellow hat, into an animated feature.

Adamson also directed Shrek and Shrek 2, and scripted the second film. He exec produced the third one. Curious George was hatched by Houghton Mifflin in 1941 and has been a globally branded book series for 75 years, selling more than 75 million copies. In addition to the animated film, it was also turned into the Emmy-winning kids animated series on PBS. Senior production veep Kristin Lowe will oversee for Universal and Adamson is repped by UTA and Nelson Davis, LLP.