Having scored a $240 million success with the animated feature Rango, Paramount Pictures has optioned, The New Kid, a Webcomic from Penny Arcade creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Since Paramount is near the end of its lucrative distribution deal with Dreamworks Animation, the studio has scrambled to get animated features in the pipeline in case Dreamworks doesn’t renew, and The New Kid, which is the story of a boy named Solomon who is the only Earthling in a school almost completely populated by aliens, certainly has a kid-friendly premise, plus the high-concept elements that should keeps adults entertained.

 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Book of Eli screenwriter Gary Whitta, who has worked extensively in video games and also penned a series of comic books featuring the game-based Death, Jr. character, has been hired to adapt The New Kid, an excellent choice given Whitta’s facility in creating quirky characters and sly, subversive narratives.

 

Penny Arcade, which debuted on the Web in 1998, has been one of the most successful Web-based comic operations thanks largely to the enduring popularity of its eponymous strip, which is focused on video game culture, and which generates something like 2 million page views per day. The strip has spun-off a lot of lucrative merchandise including paperback collections of the Penny Arcade comic.