Husband-and-wife screenwriters Joe Syracuse and Lisa Addario have been hired to write "Imaginary Enemies" for DreamWorks Animation, the duo's representation at UTA has confirmed to TheWrap.
While many movies have centered around imaginary friends, "Enemies" will take a more original approach. The film will be told from the point of view of the imaginary friends who, sick of being blamed for children's misdeeds, decide to even the score when the kids are grown up.
The idea for the tentatively-titled project originated at an internal DWA retreat several years ago and
"Shrek Forever After" director Mike Mitchell is developing it with the writers, although he isn't attached to direct at this point.
It's possible that the project could become a live-action/animation hybrid, since DWA has yet to experiment with that format, but nothing has been decided at the moment, as it's still very early in the development process.
Coincidentally, DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg previously explored developing an imaginary friend project, and he also flirted with the idea of remaking the imaginary-rabbit movie "Harvey" with Tom Hanks for 20th Century Fox earlier this year before signing on to direct DreamWorks' "War Horse."
Syracuse and Addario recently worked on DWA's "Freakers," a ghost-related animated project, and they previously developed the script for Sony Pictures Animation's "Surf's Up," which impressed me with its innovative, mockumentary approach to storytelling.
The duo also have the live-action comedies "Us & Them" and "Coup d'Etat" set up with Fox and producer Anthony Bregman, respectively. Andy Fickman is attached to direct Billy Crystal in the former film.
The "Imaginary Enemies" news was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter.
