Uglydolls, the soft toy line created by David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, will get a film outing courtesy of Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind Despicable Me .
Chris Meledandri, the founder of Illumination, has acquired the rights to use the Uglydoll characters in an animated movie, according to a report by Deadline.
Meledandri said of the franchise: "I remember the immediate appeal and connection that the characters had for me. They are simple in design, expressive in personality, and once I got to know David and Sun-Min, I learned there was a mythology and a world behind this."
He added: "The personality and level of wit reminded me of the illustrated work I saw from Matt Groening before he did The Simpsons… Most importantly, the strength cuts to the heart of our strategy, which is, to start from the perspective of characters we feel have unique appeal to audiences, regardless of age."
The handmade toy collection has a vast number of characters to choose from, so the movie's plot could potentially head off in all kinds of directions, and there would be plenty of fuel for sequels.
It'll be interesting to see if the handmade aesthetic will be incorporated into the CGI animation.
Before setting up Illumination Entertainment, Meledandri oversaw numerous hits at 20th Century Fox Animation, including Ice Age and Horton Hears A Who!
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