Sony Pictures Animation plans animated "emoji movie," starring emoji characters

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My emoji choice for this entertainment news would have to be "poop" or "frown."

Deadline Hollywood reports that in a "near seven figure" deal, Sony Pictures Animation just won the bidding among three studios for an animated movie pitch about emoji, the pictorial characters we use in messaging and social media.

The project will be co-written by Eric Siegel and Anthony Leondis, with Leondis directing.

From Deadline Hollywood:

Michelle Raimo Kouyate is producing. This appears to be a zeitgeist moment for these ideograms that hatched in Japan and have spread worldwide. Unlike like, say Lego, there are also no underlying rights here to purchase, which makes this as much a catnip idea to Hollywood as public domain fairy tales that fuel so many blockbusters. I've heard that another pitch is going to be shopped shortly, so there might be reason for Sony Animation to move quickly.