Sony Pictures Animation has emerged victorious in a bidding war for a project based on the social media icons known asEmoji. Warner Bros. and Paramount were also vying for the project, butDeadlinereports that Sony Pictures Animation was much more aggressive in their pursuit of theanimated movie.Anthony Leondis(B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations) is attached to direct and he is co-writing the screenplay with Eric Siegel.
What makes this project unique is there are no underlying rights to purchase, because theEmojiicons are in public domain. There is reportedly another pitch that will be shopped to the studios soon centering onEmoji, but it isn’t clear who is behind that project quite yet. No details were given about how the story will be brought to life, but directorAnthony Leondispitched the studios using storyboards that explained how the movie would play out.
Emojiicons were first created byShigetaka Kuritain Japan during the late 1990s, while he was working on NTT DoCoMo’s team that was creating an i-mode mobile Internet platform. TheEmoji, which literally means “picture (e) + character (moji)” in Japanese, were used to help set the platform apart from its competitors, and while they originated in Japan, they began to spread worldwide in the 2000s. Last year, the 20th Century Fox comedyThe Other Womanlaunched the first everEmoji trailer. DuringStar Wars Celebrationin April, fans who tweeted by using certain hashtags received their ownStar Wars: The Force AwakensEmoji.
This won’t be the first time that a property with no underlying narrative has been turned into a feature. BeforeThe Lego Moviebecame a worldwide blockbuster, earning $468 million worldwide at thebox office, many fans questioned how these building blocks would be given a narrative story. Sony will also release an adaptation of the popular mobilevideo game,Angry Birds, which is set for release next July. Still, no details were given forAnthony Leondispitch just yet, so we’ll have to wait and see how these tiny illustrations could be turned into movie characters.
Anthony Leondis' directing credits include Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch,IgorandKung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters. He also directed the upcomingB.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations, which was originally slated to hit theaters on June 23, 2025, but it was delayed back in November and a new release date has yet to be given.Seth Rogen,Melissa McCarthy,Rashida Jones,Matthew Bomer,Bill Murray,Jennifer CoolidgeandOctavia Spencerlead the voice cast forB.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations, and we’ll have to wait and see ifAnthony Leondiscalls upon any of these actors to voice theEmoji. What do you think of anEmojimovie?
