Interest
Sony Pictures Animation Drops Nearly A Million for Emoji-Based Film Rights
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
It looks like President Obama's shout out to emojis wasn't in vain. Sony Pictures Animation has dropped just short of a million dollars to create a film based on the texting images. The studio was competing against two others for the rights and has signed on Eric Siegel and Anthony Leondis (Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters) to write the flick with Leonidis also directing.
Leondis conceived the idea and then pitched it to multiple studios with storyboards in hand. Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson snatched it up at the behest of studio chief Tom Rothman. The push to buy up the idea from Leonidis is in part because emojis don't have a rights holder out of Japan, leaving the concept open for other creators to build off of.
Jimmy Kimmel and Brie Larson spoofed the project on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week with a "script reading."
