Netflix has reached a distribution deal on MRC’s upcoming film based on Kay Thompson’s “Eloise” children’s books, with Mae Schenk playing the titular young New Yorker with Ryan Reynolds as an original villain.
The story is currently under wraps but will not be a direct adaptation of Thompson’s four “Eloise” books released in the 1950s. “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino will direct from a script she co-wrote with Hannah Marks and Linda Woolverton.
“Eloise has been beloved for generations, from when she was first published in the 1950s through to today, when no family trip to New York City is complete without a stop at The Plaza,” said Hannah Minghella, Netflix’s Head of Feature Animation and Family Film. “It’s an honor to reintroduce this cherished character to the world with two people who share her signature mischief and charm—Amy Sherman-Palladino and Ryan Reynolds—in this bold, hilarious, and heartfelt new family film.”
First published in 1955, “Eloise” tells the story of a young girl who lives at the “tippy-top” of New York’s famous Plaza Hotel. The series was revived in the 2000s with new books from Simon & Schuster along with two Disney made-for-TV movies starring Sofia Vassilieva as Eloise and Julie Andrews as her nanny.
Reynolds will produce through his banner Maximum Effort along with George Dewey, Ashley Fox and Johnny Pariseau. Woolverton is also attached as a producer, with Molly Milstein as executive producer for Maximum Effort.
MRC will collaborate with Hilary Knight, the 99-year-old illustrator of the original “Eloise” books, on the film, as well as with Thompson’s estate and Simon & Schuster.
Reynolds is repped by WME and Sherman-Palladino is repped by CAA. Schenk is repped by Paradigm and Goodman Genow.
