Funko Movie From Warner Bros. Animation Lands Pixar And Disney Filmmakers

At the beginning of the year, we found out there was a Funko movie in development at Warner Bros. Animation. The collectible toy company has turned tons of characters from movies, TV shows, video games and more into collectible figures in their extensive POP line of vinyl figures, but they have a wide variety of stylized figures besides that. Now we'll see if the toy company is popular enough to get butts into theaters for a Funko movie from a couple Pixar and Disney filmmakers.

Deadline has word on the Funko movie falling into the hands of Teddy Newton and Mark Dindal. Newton has worked at various stages of the animation filmmaking process, including directing and writing Pixar Animation short Day & Night, and designing characters for The Incredibles and Ratatouille, not to mention being a storyboard artist for The Iron Giant. Meanwhile, Dindal was at the helm of The Emperor's New Groove and Chicken Little, both of which he also wrote the story for.

Funko CEO Brian Mariotti had this to say about the Funko movie deal with Warner Bros. Pictures:

"We're thrilled for this opportunity and are committed to make an amazing Funko movie that stands on its own merit. This isn't about selling toys or building a brand. The team at Warner Animation Group have a unique vision of what the first film should be and we are extremely excited to take this journey alongside them."

Warner Bros. has been working with Funko for awhile by licensing the rights to figures from franchises such as Batman, Harry Potter, and much more, but this takes their collaboration to a new level. However, it remains to be seen how many of the Warner Bros. film and television franchises will end up in the movie. In fact, that's something that could prove to be tricky since Funko has created so many figures based on pop culture, but Warner Bros. doesn't have the rights to all those characters. Unless there's some extensive negotiations behind the scenes, the number different characters included could be rather limited.

Previously, we heard the Funko movie would focus on Wonder Woman, the Care Bears, Hellboy, Deadpool, Hello Kitty, Harley Quinn, Darth Vader, and My Little Pony. So it sounds like we'll get something akin to The LEGO Movie, which also combined a variety of franchises into a single meta animated movie. But again, we're not sure how far Warner Bros. Pictures will be able to go with that kind of crossover. That's really the only thing giving us any hope that a Funko movie is something worth seeking out, so we'll be cautiously optimistic about this feature-length commercial.