Back in the late 80s the two hottest comic strips were Bill Waterson's Calvin & Hobbes and Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County.  Both Waterson and Breathed walked away from their highly successful creations long before they had to, but while the media-shy Waterson has yet to resurrect Calvin & Hobbes in any format, it appears that Breathed will write and direct a cartoon version of Bloom County featuring Opus the Penguin, one of the funniest comic strip talking animal creations since Charles M. Schulz's Snoopy.  Unlike most trade paperback collections of modern newspaper strips, both Calvin & Hobbes and Bloom County books sold extremely well in pop culture stores, and there certainly should be more than a little interest in an animated film featuring Opus and the rest of the Bloom County cast.  Though Dimension Films did not announce a starting date or release date, Co-Chairman Bob Weinstein waxed poetic about the Bloom County property and left little doubt Dimension was serious about bringing Opus to the big screen.

 

Up until now both Waterson and Breathed have resisted numerous efforts to turn their creations into an animated film.  Breathed's willingness to change course is based on his control over the project as both writer and director.  Breathed has earned that control by directing an animated short based on his children's book, Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big, which features big time vocal talent including Frances McDormand, John Cleese, Haley Joel Osment, and Jonathan Winters.  Having gained experience writing and directing an animated film, Breathed is now in position to turn his newspaper strip into a feature film.  If he can muster the magic of the early years of Bloom County, this will be one animated project to watch, particularly since it could stimulate trade paperback reprints of the classic Bloom County strips -- and perhaps even another wave of Opus dolls.  You remember those, don't you?