‘The Phantom Tollbooth’: Michael Vukadinovich to Adapt Beloved Children’s Book for Tristar

Readers who grew up with the beloved Norton Juster children’s book, “The Phantom Tollbooth,” are in for a treat. The Tracking Board reports that Tristar Pictures is developing a film adaptation of the 1961 novel and has tapped  Michael Vukadinovich to pen the script.

The film has been in the works for quite some time and recently moved from Warner Bros. to Tristar. The project previously had Gary Ross directing the feature from a script written by Alex Tse.

Now, Donald De Line is producing through his De Line Pictures with Ed McDonnell of Maple Shade Films. Nicole Brown is the studio executive for Tristar.

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For those unfamiliar with the classic tale, “The Phantom Tollbooth,” illustrated by Jules Feiffer,  follows a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through it in his toy car, transporting him to the Kingdom of Wisdom. Once there, he makes two new friends, goes on extraordinary adventures and even saves a princess.

Vukadinovich is known having the screenplay to “The Three Misfortunes of Geppetto” set at Fox and “Mr .Toad’s Wild Ride” set up at Disney, both of which are in development.

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