EXCLUSIVE: Alloy Entertainment’s Head of Film Elysa Dutton has written a children’s book and her employer is turning it into its first animated feature film.
The company is developing Christmas Forever: Escape to the North Pole.
It comes days after Alloy Entertainment boss Leslie Morgenstein reupped his deal with Warner Bros. Television.
The book is to be published in the fall through Penguin/Random House, with illustrations from Manu Montoya.
Dutton and Alloy President and Chief Creative Officer Leslie Morgenstein will produce the project, which is currently out to writers.
Christmas Forever: Escape to the North Pole is set on Christmas Eve, when a group of ornaments, tired of being stuck in storage all year, devise an escape plan to the North Pole where it will be Christmas forever.
Dutton is a veteran film producer and production executive who runs the film division at Alloy Entertainment. She said her inspiration was her dad’s “spirited” readings of books such as Where the Wild Things Are.
Alloy’s slate includes Netflix’s You starring Penn Badgley, returning for its fifth season, and Max’s upcoming Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.
It also has produced three consecutive top films for Netflix including You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, starring Adam Sandler and Idina Menzel, Purple Hearts, starring Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine, and Work It, starring Sabrina Carpenter. Its next film, the genre motion picture Tarot, will be released through Sony Pictures in May.
“We’re always interested in telling compelling stories with vivid characters to a variety of audiences and this will be our first foray into the exciting world of animation,” said Morgenstein.
“Writing this book has been a bucket list moment and I can’t wait for the world to meet these little ornaments with big dreams,” added Dutton.