Emoji Movie: Sony signs $$$ deal to turn emoticons into film franchise
Would you be :) or :S to see emoticons take centre stage?
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Proof that there is no fad which Hollywood believes can’t be elevated into a blockbuster arrived after Sony Pictures Animation snapped up the rights to turn the lovable Emoji character into a
film franchise.
Sony triumphed in a three-studio auction to bring the round-faced figures, originally used as cute footnotes to text messages, to the big screen.
The deal, said to be worth seven figures, surprised some insiders since, unlike the Lego brand, recently turned into a hit film, there are no underlying rights to buy for the widely-used ideograms.
Film website Deadline speculated that Sony was forced to act to block a rival Emoji film pitch, with Warner Bros and Paramount also waving their cheque-books at the Emoji.
Developed in the late-90s in Japan as smiley-faced emoticons, the wealth of happy/sad characters now available suggests Emoji enjoy a greater expressive range than the average Hollywood actor.
The “Emoji Movie” will provide competition for Minions, the cheerful yellow pill-shaped organisms who earned their own spin-off release after becoming cult stars in Despicable Me.
The Sony project will be co-written by Eric Siegel, a US sitcom producer and Anthony Leondis, director of Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters and a soon-to-be-released DreamWorks animation, B.O.O.: Bureau Of Otherworldly Operations, featuring the voices of Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy.
The producers will develop the Emoji film’s characters from a wealth of symbols available from Apple’s library. It currently houses 93 individual yellow forms, 15 families of four, 10 happy couples and seven anthropomorphic cats.
This week Sony releases Pixels, an animated/live action film starring Adam Sandler that features popular videogame characters come to life, including Pac Man.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments