King Features Syndicate, a unit of Hearst and home to some of the world’s most popular entertainment characters, have announced a new animated film in development inspired by the interactive children’s comic strip, Slylock Fox. King Features has also renewed its representation agreement for the property, which was previously known as Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids.
The film in development will follow the Sherlock-Holmes-esque detective and his devoted sidekick, Max Mouse as they match wits against a cast of eccentric villains. Evan Daugherty, writer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Divergent, and Snow White and the Huntsman, is on board to write and produce the Slylock Fox film, and Chromosphere, a design and animation studio, has joined the project for art direction. C.J. Kettler, president of King Features, will serve as executive producer.
“Young readers around the world look forward to solving the fun, interactive brainteasers in Slylock Fox every day and we are thrilled to bring these iconic characters to life on the big screen, ” said Kettler. “Evan Daugherty and Chromosphere Studios both do incredible work and with this partnership we will be able to create an engaging and meaningful story that captures the true spirit of the comic’s mysterious adventures.”
Bob Weber Jr, creator of Slylock Fox, added, “It has been a true joy creating Slylock Fox over the years to bring readers of the comic pages something fun and different with interactive activities centered around core education themes. We look forward to the next Slylock Fox project and know that King Features, along with Chromosphere and Evan Daugherty, will create an exciting, animated adaptation that is sure to captivate our current fans and also reach a whole new audience.”
Kids all over the world are excited about the daily capers of Slylock Fox and his sidekick, Max Mouse in the interactive comic strip from award-winning creator Bob Weber Jr. The friendly cast of characters solve mysteries while teaching young readers about interesting topics and encouraging them to use facts, logic, attention to visual detail, lateral thinking and other cognitive thinking skills to solve fun, puzzling mysteries.
Slylock Fox is one of several properties King Features is currently developing for television and film, as it looks to both adapt its iconic comic strip properties for today’s culture and build out its portfolio of properties it represents outside of the core comic strip arena. Recently, King Features debuted the highly anticipated adaptation of global video game phenomenon Cuphead, which made its streaming debut this February on Netflix as The Cuphead Show! and dropped a new batch of episodes in August.