The Phantom Tollbooth Movie In The Works

According to The Tracking Board, TriStar Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has hired screenwriter Michael Vukadinovich to adapt the beloved children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth, which was written by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer, published in 1961 by Random House, and has been compared to Alice in Wonderland, for its allegorical wisdom, and The Wizard of Oz, for its pointed whimsy.

Vukadinovich other writing credits include 20th Century’s Fox’s Pinocchio prequel The Three Misfortunes Of Gepetto, Disney’s The Wind In The Willows adaptation Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, and the Weinstein Company’s adaptation of Matthew Quick’s YA book Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock.

The Phantom Tollbooth movie is being produced by Donald De Line, through his De Line Pictures, and Ed McDonnell of Maple Shade Films. Nicole Brown is overseeing the production for Tristar.

Several years ago, when The Phantom Tollbooth film rights were at Warner Bros., The Hunger Games director, Gary Ross, was going to helm the project, based on a script by Watchmen scribe Alex Tse.

The book’s synopsis:

For Milo, everything’s a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason! Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s exciting beyond his wildest dreams. . . .