In a way, The Lego Movie actually being good was the worst thing to ever happen to Hollywood, because now we’ve got studios getting into bidding wars over properties that sound like incredibly stupid things to make into a movie, except that “it worked for The Lego Movie.” One such bidding war recently erupted over emoji—we all know what emoji are at this point, right?—which Deadline reports were recently at the center of a hotly contested multi-studio auction.
Sony Pictures Animation reportedly won with a “deal near seven figures” for the pitch, although to whom they paid this series of cartoon money bags is something of a mystery. Unlike Minecraft, Angry Birds, and every other mindless smartphone time-waster currently being turned into something to have on in the background as you waste time on your smartphone, there are no underlying rights for the studio to purchase. Regardless, the script will be written by Eric Siegel, a producer on the TBS sitcom Men At Work, and Anthony Leondis, director of the quickly forgotten 2008 animated film Igor and a handful of DreamWorks shorts. Leondis will also direct the feature, which we can only assume will be an R-rated adult tale of peach meets eggplant in the Ralph Bakshi tradition.