Mouse Guard - Comic Adaptation Coming From Matt Reeves

[Walts Ghost]

‘Mouse Guard’ Film Adaptation in the Works from Matt Reeves and Gary Whitta

David Petersen‘s 10-year running, Eisner-winning comic book series Mouse Guard is finallyset film adaptation thanks to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story screenwriter Gary Whitta. THR reports that 20th Century Fox has optioned Petersen’s best-selling work for an adaptation penned by Whitta with Reeves producing alongside Boom! Studios’ Ross Richie and Stephen Christy. Reeves currently has no intention to direct.

The series recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and, to-date, has been translated to 10 languages and has sold almost one million copies in print, spawning three volumes of the main series, three volumes of a spinoff series Mouse Guard: Legend of the Guard. A new series titled Mouse Guard: The Weasel Wars is planned for next year.

Created, written and illustrated by Petersen, Mouse Guard follows a brotherhood of anthropomorphic mice living in medieval times. Despite it’s cutesy sounding logline, the comic series is known for its complex characters, mature storylines, and detailed world-building. For the film, Fox plans to use the technology pioneered for Apes (and used earlier this year to stunning effect in The Jungle Book) for a live-action/CG hybrid film.

Prior plans for an on-screen adaptation fell apart earlier in the decade, and in good news for fans, Petersen was in no hurry to compromise his vision to find a new buyer. At the time, he told Nerdist of his plans for a Mouse Guard movie:

Boom! Studios also has the wonderful Lumberjanes and James Wan‘s Malignant Man in development at Fox. For those eager for more updates on the Mouse Guard movie, stay tuned to Comic-Con where Petersen and Whitta will be fielding fan questions at a Friday afternoon.