Here’s the story about how it happened, from Deadline Hollywood:

20th Century Fox has teamed with Walden Media to buy rights to Bil Keane’s venerable syndicated comic strip The Family Circus, and they’ve hired Bob Hilgenberg & Rob Muir to script a live action feature. John Baldecchi and Stacy Maes are producing. Bil Keane started the strip in 1960 and continues to generate the single-panel script with his son Jeff. It is the most widely syndicated strip in the world, according to King Features.

A number of studios competed for the rights for what is envisioned as a multiple quadrant family franchise. Though several members of the Keane clan have become film animators, Bil Keane resisted making a film deal all these years. Producer Baldecchi spent two years trying to track them down. He got Keane’s number, but never had his messages returned. One day, Baldecchi called and Keane picked up the phone. He made enough of an impression that Keane introduced the producer to his son Jeff. Soon they had an agreement to move forward and then studios got involved.

I’m told the deal was six figures against seven-figures and went to Fox and Walden, which are partnered in the upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The two previous films produced by Walden Media, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Price Caspian, were highly popular earning $745 million and $419 million respectively worldwide. In the video Flaherty says, he was very proud of the work that has been done so far on the film and is confident that it will recapture the magic that was so much a part of the first film.

Asbury English professor, Dr. Devin Brown, who has authored three books about C. S. Lewis and Narnia, designed the questions and interviewed Flaherty. Asbury media communication professor, Greg Bandy, was the producer and director. Austin Berry, a senior media communication major, was in charge of filming and editing. The footage was shown at the Asbury Reunion in June, and will be used at several of Dr. Brown’s upcoming scholarly talks, and at Asbury’s Narnia Night planned for December. Following that, it will be posted on Asbury’s website.

The project was funded by Asbury’s C.S. Lewis Study Center and a grant from the Lilly Foundation. Dr. Brown said, “The ongoing connections between Asbury University, Walden Media, and the work of C.S. Lewis is a wonderful illustration of vocation—using our God-given interests, inclinations, and talents to engage the culture.”

Dr. Brown’s third book on C.S. Lewis, “Inside the Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” will be released on Oct. 1, 2010. The third Narnia film will open on Dec. 10, 2010. Asbury’s Narnia Night III is planned for Dec. 3, 2010 in Hughes Auditorium.

-via Asbury

Based on Gay and Laney Salisbury’s book “The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic,” the true story centers on a 674-mile journey undertaken by 20 men and 200 dogs who rushed a diphtheria antidote to Nome, Alaska, in 1952. The group braved temperatures of minus-60 degrees, a phenomenon known as ice fog and other dangers, capturing the attention of the lower 48 states. One lead dog even got a statue in New York’s Central Park.

Sean O’Keefe and Will Staples wrote the adaptation.

Walden is eyeing a summer start for the project, which at one point was in development at Miramax under the title “Ice Bound.”

The deal marks the first project for Hood since directing “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which grossed $373 million worldwide.

Walden is eyeing a summer start for the adventure movie, which should give Hood plenty of time to schedule TV work; he is attached to direct “Breakout Kings,” which recently was picked up as a pilot by Fox. He is coming off the pilot “Tough Trade,” which he directed for Epix.

Walden Media, the company behind the Chronicles of Narnia films, has acquired the rights to the ursine anthropomorphs, and Levy agreed to help oversee the project.

The books, by Jan and the late Stan Berenstain, have maintained their popularity for almost a half-century. The characters were first published in 1962 in The Big Honey Hunt.

“To stand that kind of test of time is pretty formidable,” says Levy, who will produce the film through his company, 21 Laps. “People read them as kids and can now read them to their kids. Any piece of culture that proves that enduring has something special in its DNA.”

Though his next film is the more adult Tina Fey-Steve Carell comedy Date Night, the Berenstain films “happen to fit firmly within the wheelhouse of family-genre comedy I do, whether it’s Cheaper by the Dozen or Night at the Museum,” Levy says. “It’s warm-hearted comedy about family, and a different kind of family.”

Writers have yet to be hired, but Levy says he wants the film to be an original story incorporating details from some of the more popular Berenstain books.

“I’d like the film to be un-ironic about its family connections but have a wry comedic sensibility that isn’t oblivious to the fact that they’re bears,” Levy says. “The comedy comes from this bear family coexisting in a more recognizably real world.”

Levy compared his vision of the film to the tone of Will Ferrell’s Elf, which had a sweet, earnest hero who clashed with his cynical surroundings. “I think the movie will be witty but never sarcastic,” he says.

Walden Media CEO Michael Bostick says it’s vital to honor the “goodwill from generations of families” who have enjoyed the books, but he compares the characters to other outcast families “like The Beverly Hillbillies or The Addams Family, who don’t quite fit in but manage to survive.”

The Berenstain Bears have existed as 2-D illustrations for so long, they are also getting “a slight makeover to bring it into the three-dimensional style, but we’ll embrace the core design elements,” Bostick says. “It’ll be a slightly modern spin on their look.”

Bostick hopes a screenplay will be finished and in preproduction late next year, with the earliest release date being late 2011. “Believe it or not, in this business that’s a fast-track,” he says.

-via USA Today

While he was on campus, Devin Brown had the opportunity to ask him about Walden’s mission, where its name came from, and even what his favorite scene is. His response to these and other questions can be viewed in “An Interview with Micheal Flaherty” which has been posted at: Asbury.edu

There’s also a question and answer session about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The Hollywood Reporter describes Gene as a modern-day take on the genie story. According to Walden CEO Michael Bostick, it’s a family comedy combining “originality, humor, heart and broad appeal that all ages can enjoy.”

Screenwriter Singer is the creator of TV series Jack & Jill and co-writer of Mrs. Doubtfire, which bodes well, and is currently working on a script for Big Momma’s House 3, which doesn’t.

No director is attached yet, but Jordan Kerner (Charlotte’s Web) is producing under his Kerner Entertainment Banner.

Via Empire Online

Walden Media has produced several box office blockbusters. “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” and “The Water Horse,” are a few high-profile theatrical titles in the AFG/Walden Media library.

Earlier this year, Doug Jones, Walden’s EVP of Physical Production, Sean Santiago, VP Visual Effects and Jonas Thaler, VP Post Production designed a workflow for the third chapter in the Narnia series. The Director of Photography and On-Set Colorist create a look for each scene, which is expressed and documented as ten-digit ASC CDL value. In the Walden plan, the CDL grades follow the project from set to dailies to VFX and final DI color timing.

When the Walden team was ready to discuss hardware and software solutions with which to implement the new ”Dawn Treader” workflow, they met with Simon Cuff, President and COO of Digital Vision. Digital Vision responded to the challenge and is currently developing an on-set grading solution based on the research and development that the two companies have done together. For Dawn Treader’s Australia shoot, Digital Vision provided a modified Nucoda HD System that takes in and manages color choices from the set and keeps the salient metadata available to the colorist and visual effects through final DI color grading. Walden will use systems in Australia, UK and the US on upcoming features.

Doug Jones of Walden commented that, “We and our filmmakers strive to make successful films with powerful and memorable visual content. Directors and cinematographers do their best work if they are given instant access to high resolution images and precise color and density control from day one through final delivery. After meeting in Los Angeles and London and getting to know Digital Vision’s international development group and product line, we could see that the Nucoda HD system fit the bill. The efficiency of the ASC CDL color value system and the power and depth of Digital Vision’s tools are the essence of our workflow. Our partnership with Digital Vision has evolved to the point where we’d like to keep this going on future projects.”

Simon Cuff, President and COO of Digital Vision, commented, “Walden Media has a history of telling high quality stories with beautiful imagery created by top filmmakers. To work so closely with this team and this caliber of entertainment is exciting, and we are looking forward to Nucoda being part of that creative process, from the camera to the cinema screen. Walden’s push forward in production, VFX and post production workflow has allowed us to accelerate the development and refine the functionality of our on-set and dailies solutions – ensuring this will become an essential part of the movie-making process.”

In its own words, MENC “believes that music allows us to celebrate and preserve our cultural heritages and also to explore the realms of expression, imagination, and creation resulting in new knowledge.” In BANDSLAM, the young characters express themselves through music: the music of their idols like David Bowie, and the music they create themselves. It plays a central role in their high school experience and the way they perceive the world around them. Main character Will played by Gaelan Connell says in the film “I tend to make snap decisions about people based upon what type of music they like.”

MENC values the cultural role of music, and believes that “every individual should be guaranteed the opportunity to learn music and to share in musical experiences. The mission of MENC is to advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all.”

The film’s young stars, Vanessa Hudgens, Aly Michalka and Gaelan Connell spoke out in support of music education at the “BANDSLAM Reel Thinking Event” in May. All three stars are accomplished musicians in their own right, and understand the importance of music in schools. Walden, with the stars of the film, created a special Public Service Announcement for MENC to express our commitment to music education.

Watch the PSA below, and learn more about MENC at menc.org.

To further the cause of music education, Walden also co-wrote free standards-based interdisciplinary curriculum with MENC and the GRAMMY Museum based upon the film. It’s free to download on walden.com, and explores the history of American songwriting, music forms, recording and music’s influence on popular culture.

Download the 6 NCTE/IRA standards-based activities and corresponding webisodes here.

-via Walden.com

Ellen DeGeneres stars as MOTHER NATURE, who makes her grand return to earth for the first time since the planet’s creation. Project is being written by Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winner Jenny Bicks.

Says DeGeneres: “I’m so excited to be playing Mother Nature. I’ve always wanted to control the weather. Nothing will stop me from doing this.

And in early 2010, Walden and HarperCollins will co-publish the first three titles for a new HC imprint called Walden Pond Press. “It’s a great story in the wake of all the bad news in publishing,” says Francis X. (Chip) Flaherty Jr., publisher of Walden Pond Press and executive v-p of Walden Media. “It’s really no different than what we do on the movie side, where we look to Fox or Disney to distribute our films, to get them into 3,000 theaters. We don’t have a printing press, we don’t know the folks at Barnes & Noble.”

This week Walden signed Mary McAveney, previously v-p of marketing for Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, as “publishing amplification advisor.” Her job: to build buzz for Walden’s books and films. She will work closely with the marketing and publicity teams for Walden’s films and all of its book titles. The aim, Flaherty says, is not to have “a good book