Fox Animation has picked up the film rights to Zita the Spacegirl, a children’s book series by award-winning author and illustrator Ben Hatke.
Darlene Caamano Loquet will oversee the project for Fox Animation which will be produced by Chernin Entertainment. Screenwriting duo Morgan Jurgenson and Alex Ankeles will pen the adaptation.
The children’s book series which was published in 2011 revolves around a girl named Zita who embarks on a journey to becoming an intergalactic hero after her friend is abducted by an alien doomsday cult. She leaps to rescue her best friend deals with humanoid chickens as well as robots and makes friends with a blob-like creature. She takes on ancient prophecies, doomed planets, and a mystery man along the way who takes a secret interest in her myriad quests.
The author and artist Hatke’s recent work is a graphic novel titled Mighty Jack. He won an Eisner Award for his children’s book Little Robot. His titles include Nobody Likes A Goblin and Julia’s House For Lost Creatures.
Also, Jurgenson and Ankeles’ writing credits include Hyperdrive for Paramount, Subdivision for Universal, and Dead Run for Lionsgate. Jurgenson also penned the cult horror comedy Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil.