Dreamworks Animation, the people who brought you SHREK, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, and essentially the best in non-Pixar Hollywood animation, have acquired a hot new property. They came out on top of a bidding war to pick up Dav Pilkey’s CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS series, currently eight books and counting.
Dreamworks chief Bill Damaschke has been trying to work out a deal with Pilkey since the series’ first instalment back in 1997, but the author has had no inclination to sell, until now. The series revolves around a pair of trouble making kids and their cranky Principal. To get back at him for his general bad attitude, the boys hypnotise him, a prank that starts off innocent but spirals out of control when he adopts the persona of Captain Underpants, superhero. From then on, he turns into the barely dressed hero at the sound of fingers snapping, and generally tackles some kind of toilet humour-themed foe.
Dreamworks have a fair few series and franchises on the go at the moment, and are probably hoping this can join the ranks of the SHREKs and the KUNG FU PANDAs. But though the book series is popular, it is possible that many parents will not approve of the clearly crude content, possibly hurting the box office. Despite the toilet humour, though, it is a pretty fun, colourful and charming series that could see another big pay day for Dreamworks.
