Ben Elton and The Wiggles may seem a strange combination but the Englishman is attached to write and direct a movie featuring the Australian group.
Entitled The Wiggles- Pandamonium!, the movie will follow the quartet as they race against time and employ their unique talents to overcome mysterious challenges to return a lost baby panda to his family.
The producers are Paul Field, who manages the group and is the brother of co-founder Anthony Field, Michael Wrenn and Gary Hamilton. Anthony is the executive producer. The project was one of the recipients of the latest round of development funding from Screen Australia.
Elton was a Wiggles fan when his twins were growing up. “The Wiggles are setting records for attendances for their shows in Australia, with 90 sold-out shows so far,” Paul Field told IF. “So a new generation of Wiggles fans has embraced Emma, Lachy, Simon and Anthony as their own.
“Having known Anthony his whole life, I'd never met anyone with his energy and creative drive, until I met Ben Elton. Ben was a Wiggles fan when his twins were growing up so he knows the Wiggles world.
“We're excited about what he is bringing to our film and after 23 years of Wiggling, we know this film will appeal to a much wider audience, from tots to teens and beyond."
It will be Elton’s second feature as a director. His first, Maybe Baby, was a 2000 comedy-romance starring Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson as a couple who are trying to conceive a child.
Arclight has the international sales rights. An early 2015 shoot is planned.