Peter, Paul & Mary Tune ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’ In Fox Deal With ‘Troll’s Helmer Mike Mitchell

EXCLUSIVE: Fox Animation will turn the Peter, Paul and Mary song “Puff the Magic Dragon” into a hybrid live action/animated feature that will be directed by Trolls helmer Mike Mitchell. The film will be produced by Safehouse partners Tory Tunnell and Joby Harold and Weed Road’s Akiva Goldsman. They secured the rights to the song, which has lyrics by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton. Vanessa Morrison and Nate Hopper are overseeing for the studio.

At a time when Hollywood has cleaned the cupboard of most existing IP for potential films, the notion of turning to a 1963 folk standard seems a clever alternative. Puff the Magic Dragon is an ageless dragon who befriends a shy child and takes him to the land called Honalee. Lipton originated the song as a poem, and Yarrow, a housemate at Cornell, turned it into the song when he joined Paul Stookey and Mary Travers in the folk trio.

Tunnell and Harold produced with Goldsman King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, the Guy Ritchie-directed film that stars Charlie Hunnam. Harold wrote the script, and he and Tunnell exec produced the WGN series Underground.