Sony Pictures Animation bringing TV's 'Manimal' to the big screen

Because you and the 10 other people who liked Manimal asked for it, Sony Pictures Animation is bringing the ultra-crappy 1983 TV series to the big screen. For some ungodly reason, Manimal has turned out to be a cult hit for some folks, especially in other countries with considerably lower standards than us.  Here in America the show ran for only eight episodes before wiser heads prevailed and shit-canned it off the boob tube for good. But Sony sees something worthy in the property, and they've picked up the rights to make it into a live-action/CGI film.

The show followed Dr. Jonathan Chase, a billionaire who learned the secrets of shapeshifting while traveling through Tibet. While he could turn into anything, he was limited by the show's super low budget and basically only changed into a hawk and panther. Chase was played by the late British actor, Simon MacCorkindale, and co-starred Melody Anderson, who some might recognize from Flash Gordon. The show's producer, Glen A. Anderson, is on board in the same capacity. I bet he never expected to get that phone call. "Hey Glen, wanna make a Manimal movie? Hello? Hello?"

So this pretty much completes Sony's unholy nostalgia trilogy what with The Smurfs, the recently announced Alf film, and now this. In this case, there aren't any fond memories of Manimal, and the brand has no value, so I don't know who they're targeting here. [THR]