Warner Bros. has set the release dates for previously-announced films based on “Sesame Street” and “Tom and Jerry.”
The untitled “Sesame Street” movie, a live-action musical, arrives Jan. 15, 2021, and the untitled “Tom and Jerry” movie, which is a live-action and animation hybrid, comes out April 16, 2021.
“Portlandia” co-creator Jonathan Krisel is directing the “Sesame Street” movie based on the long-running children’s series created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett that features muppet characters created by Jim Henson including Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie and many others.
Mike Rosolio wrote the first draft of the screenplay, with Chris Galletta writing the most recent draft. Shawn Levy is producing with Michael Aguilar. Levy has been developing the project since 2012 when 20th Century Fox held the rights. Jesse Ehrman is overseeing for Warner Bros. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the longstanding children’s program, will be involved with the development of the project.
Tim Story (“Ride Along,” “Shaft”) is attached to direct the untitled “Tom and Jerry” movie for Warner Bros. Animation Group based on the rival cat and mouse duo from the 1940s and ’50s Hanna-Barbera cartoon shorts. The project will be a hybrid of animation and live-action.
Paramount has a “Rugrats” movie, based on the Nickelodeon ’90s cartoon, arriving in late January of 2021, and Universal has “The Boss Baby 2” arriving several weeks ahead of the “Tom and Jerry” film in March 2021.