'Horton Hears a Who' feature planned

LOS ANGELES, March 10 (UPI) -- Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox Animation have won the movie rights to Dr. Seuss' "Horton Hears a Who," The Hollywood Reporter said Thursday.

Blue Sky and Fox will produce a computer-animated movie based on Theodor Geisel's character, Horton the Elephant -- who risks derision from other animals when he tries to protect microscopic creatures who live on a speck of dust.

Blue Sky Studios -- a wholly owned unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment -- launches the new CGI feature "Robots" in U.S. theaters Friday. The studio previously released the Oscar-nominated 2002 animated feature "Ice Age."

Christopher Meledandri, president of 20th Century Fox Animation, told The Reporter he had been talking for nearly two years with Dr. Seuss Enterprises and the late author's widow and estate executor Audrey Geisel, about making a 3-D animated movie based on one of the Dr. Seuss books.

"I have always wanted to find a way to do a digitally animated Dr. Seuss movie," Meledandri said. "I have loved Dr. Seuss since I was a little kid."