Disney Scraps Fox’s ‘Mouse Guard’ Two Weeks Before Production Begins
By Hoai-Tran Bui/April 18, 2019 7:30 am EST
Directed by The Maze Runner’s Wes Ball, Mouse Guard was set to star Idris Elba, Andy Serkis, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Sonoya Mizuno, in a motion-capture animated film that would bring to life Petersen’s vivid Eisner Award-winning illustrations. However, it seems those plans have been halted by Fox’s new parent company, Disney.
Producers Matt Reeves, Ross Ritche, and Stephen Christy are being allowed to shop the project to other studios, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with several studios expressing interest. One possible new home would be Netflix, which has picked up expensive Andy Serkis motion-capture movies before and seems interested in building an animation brand in direct competition to Disney.
It would be a shame to lose the big-screen adaptation of Mouse Guard, which is a comic book series I’ve never read but admire for its artistry and originality. Still running since it first began publishing in 2006, Mouse Guard follows the “adventures of three mice, Saxon, Kenzie and Lieam patrol borders, and strive to make safeways to keep the mouse territories free from predators.” The medieval setting and darker elements would be a refreshing change of pace from Disney’s glut of live-action adaptations of its animated classics, but alas, Disney has final say.
