'Sesame Street' Movie: Shawn Levy Reportedly Bringing Children's Series To Screens

Good News For 'Sesame Street' Fans

Sunny day! According to THR, a "Sesame Street" movie is headed to the big screen, courtesy of director Shawn Levy and Twentieth Century Fox.

Levy will produce the film, likely in concert with Sesame Workshop in some capacity. (Sesame Workshop was previously known as Children's Television Workshop.)

The series, created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, debuted in 1969 and over 4,300 episodes have aired since. "Sesame Street" is famous for its ear-worm-y theme song, as well as characters like Big Bird, Bert & Ernie and Oscar the Grouch.

While a feature film version of "Sesame Street" might have seemed inevitable -- especially after the success Disney had with "The Muppets," which grossed $158 million worldwide last year -- it's a tad surprising that Fox is the studio backing the project. In a profile of Ben Stiller in the latest edition of The New Yorker, Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman and CEO Tom Rothman said that Hollywood can't sustain itself on sequels and reboots alone.

"At a certain point there would be no 'Avatar 2' or 'Avatar 3,' because there had been no 'Avatar,'" he said. "At a certain point, probably now, you run out. So what you need is originality."

Or someone to tell you how to get to Sesame Street.

For more on Shawn Levy's upcoming projects, including where "Sesame Street" could fit in for his production company, head over to THR.

[via THR]

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