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About a decade ago, it became popular for parents to buy a nice copy of Dr. Seuss’ Oh The Places You’ll Go! and have their kid’s teachers sign it at the end of each school year so they can then present it to them as a high school graduation gift. My husband’s aunt sent us a copy after each of our children were born, actually. I’m sentimental, so I thought it was a sweet idea. Plus, it’s just such a lovely story. Despite the book’s popularity, there has never been a movie or made-for-TV version of it. Well, that’s all about to change because Wicked‘s Jon M. Chu is set to co-direct an animated film version of Oh, the Places You’ll Go! alongside director/animator Jill Culton.
Jon M. Chu is trying something new! The Wicked director, 45, has boarded a big-screen adaptation of the beloved Dr. Seuss classic Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, he confirmed via his Instagram Stories on Tuesday, Jan. 28. It will mark the filmmaker’s first ever animated movie.
Chu tagged several of those involved in the Warner Bros. Pictures Animation project as he shared an article from Deadline about the upcoming film, including co-director Jill Culton (Abominable), J.J. Abrams and EGOT-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
“Oh what a team for my first animated movie,” Chu wrote. “Coming ’28.”
Per Deadline, Abrams, 58, is producing the film under his Bad Robot banner, alongside Gregg Taylor and Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
Pasek, 39, and Paul, 40, will write the songs for Oh, the Places You’ll Go!. The screenplay will be adapted from Seuss’ 1990 book by Peter Rabbit scribe Rob Lieber, who was also responsible for the script for the upcoming Karate Kid: Legends.
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! was the final book Seuss published before the prolific children’s-book author (real name Theodor Seuss Geisel) died on Sept. 24, 1991, at age 87. Several of Seuss’ stories have been made into feature films over the years, including The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957) and The Lorax (1971).
Chu, meanwhile, has no shortage of current and upcoming film projects, including a screen adaptation of Britney Spears’ 2023 memoir The Woman in Me.
I was surprised by this news, actually. So many of Dr. Seuss’ books have been made into animated movies, live-action movies, or TV shows that I just assumed that this one had been as well. I do love this book, so I hope they do a good job with it. It sounds like it’s going to be a musical, too, which means the bar is going to be set pretty high. I’m just really glad that it’s not going to be a live-action movie. I definitely prefer seeing an animated version of this wonderful tale, especially if it’s going to have a soundtrack. Since the movie doesn’t come out until March 2028, there’s no news of casting yet, but I’m curious if they’ll find some big name actors or go with more unknown voice actors. I hope they go with the latter. It would be nice to enjoy a movie like this without constantly playing the “Whose voice is this?” game that I played the entire time I watched Sonic the Hedgehog 3 a few weeks ago.
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