MGM is rebooting The Pink Panther movie series, but the new film will follow the cartoon cat, not the character of Inspector Clouseau, THR reports. David Silverman, who directed dozens of early Simpsons episodes in addition to directing The Simpsons Movie and co-directing Monsters, Inc., is attached to direct the new Pink Panther movie, which will be a live-action/CGI hybrid.
The animated Pink Panther appeared in the opening credits of the original Peter Sellers Pink Panther movie but never in the film series themselves. The cartoon character proved so popular that he was spun off to a series of film shorts and an animated series of his own.
The plot to the new movie involves an international jewel heist, and the titular panther will not speak, just like in the old animated shorts. Henry Mancini’s iconic Pink Panther theme will be used though, and while Inspector Clouseau won’t appear in the movie, he “does exist in the movie’s mythology,†whatever that means. Julie Andrews, the widow of the original movies’ director Blake Edwards, will produce. Michael Price, who’s been a writer/producer on The Simpsons since 2003, is in talks to write the script.