20th Century Fox Animation and its Blue Sky Studios unit have acquired the rights to Charles M. Schulz's iconic "Peanuts" comic strip and plan to turn it into a film, the studio announced on Tuesday.
The new partners are looking at a release date of November 2015, to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the strip's debut.
This would be the fifth "Peanuts" film to hit the big screen. The first was "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" in 1969; "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!!)" was the last one, in 1980.
Steve Martino will direct from a screenplay by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano. Craig Schulz is Charles M. Schulz’s son, and Bryan Schulz is his grandson.
"We have been working on this project for years," Craig Schulz, president of Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates, said in a statement. "We finally felt the time was right and the technology is where we need it to be to create this film."
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Discontinued in February 2000, the "Peanuts" comic strip was read daily by 355 million people in 75 countries at the height of its fame.