Chitty to fly again

[Mark Hazard]

Very surprised that I can’t find mention of this - but according to It’s Chitty Chitty Bang back a small piece in last weeks Sunday Express (2nd March 2008) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is set to soar on the big screen once more.

The item goes on to say: The popular musical with the magical flying car is to be remade with big-name stars, a multi-million pound budget and cutting-edge special effects.

The project is being developed by Eon productions, maker of the James Bond movies. It owns the rights to the children’s story, written by Bond’s creator Ian Fleming.

"It will probably go into production next year after we’ve finished with the latest James Bond film," said one Eon executive.

Johnny Depp is being courted to play the infamous child catcher, played in the original 1968 film by Benny Hill (York Membery got that wrong, Benny played the toymaker, it was Robert Helpmann playing the child catcher). "We’re hopeful that he’ll say yes," said the source.

It follows the success of the stage revival of the musical at the London Palladium which ran between 2002 and 2005 and earned £70 million. The show became one of the Palladiums biggest hits, beating both Oliver and Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Can we but hope that they don’t decide to re-design Chitty and make one that looks nothing like the Chitty we know and love.

[JAMESHOT]

Always has been a classic film, I don't know why EON would want to re-make their own film? Some things are better left alone.

[Mark Hazard]

Haven't heard anything more on the film, but Pierre Picton's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is stopping by in Walsall this coming Saturday (29 May) twixt 10am and 3pm, they are also touring in 2010: http://chittygen11.com/appearance.htm

[JAMESHOT]

Originally Posted by Mark Hazard

Haven't heard anything more on the film, but Pierre Picton's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is stopping by in Walsall this coming Saturday (29 May) twixt 10am and 3pm, they are also touring in 2010: http://chittygen11.com/appearance.htm

Probably another casualty of the MGM fiasco for now also? ....Looks like CHITTY is going on the road for some extensive touring there, Hope they changed her oil and tuned her up.... Perhaps one day she will fly across to the states here for a tour.....

[Mr.E]

Originally Posted by JAMESHOT

Probably another casualty of the MGM fiasco for now also? ....Looks like CHITTY is going on the road for some extensive touring there, Hope they changed her oil and tuned her up.... Perhaps one day she will fly across to the states here for a tour.....

This also means the delay of Remote Control.

[JAMESHOT]

Actually it was said SONY & COLUMBIA were handling "Remote Control" and 14 other Eon non Bond Projects. Chitty was supposed to be a collaboration with SONY & MGM like the Bond films......Perhaps something soon as all was said to be in development......

Eon Productions Teams up with Columbia Pictures
http://www.bondmovies.com/board/show...=bond+projects

Bond Producers' New Project Announced
http://www.bondmovies.com/board/show...remote+control

[JAMESHOT]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to fly again in new books

LONDON (Reuters) - James Bond creator Ian Fleming's other famous invention, the magical car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is set to fly again with the publication of a new series of adventures by children's author Frank Cottrell Boyce.
Fleming's estate, which has already found success with authorized spinoffs of the James Bond series, has decided to re-launch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with three new novels, the first of which is due for release on November 4.

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again" will be published in Britain by Macmillan Children's Books and set in the present day.

The plot will center around the Tooting family, who discover an old racing car engine and use it to supe up their camper van.

"Before they know it they are zooming around the world as Chitty comes to life again and is restored to her former glory," the estate said in a statement.

The new books will be illustrated by Joe Berger.

Fleming's "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car," a tale he originally made up as a bedtime story for his young son Caspar, was published in 1964, two months after the author died.

It was illustrated by John Burningham and dedicated to the real Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, built by the eccentric racing-car driver Count Zborowski.

The story is probably best known through the 1968 musical film adaptation in which Dick Van Dyke plays eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts.

"I have no idea what made the Flemings think of asking me to write the sequel. I haven't asked them in case it's all a case of mistaken identity," Boyce said.

"I went back to the book for the first time since I was a boy and was delighted to discover that, first of all, it's really good and, secondly, it's crying out for a sequel.

"I've had a lot of fun writing these books, but somewhere amongst all the fun I found it strangely emotional to revisit myself as a boy and ask if he could help me restore an old-fashioned contraption and make it fly again," Boyce said.

Boyce is a British children's novelist and scriptwriter who has worked with movie directors including Michael Winterbottom and Danny Boyle.

[JAMESHOT]

A sequel to the family favourite Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is set to fly off the shelves, half a century after the original was released.

And Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again is already being dubbed truly scrumptious by the original author's estate.
The family of Ian Fleming, who died before the original book was published, handpicked author Frank Cottrell Boyce to write the sequel, which is out on Friday.

Chitty has undergone some changes in the last 50 years, going from a wrecked Grand Prix racing motorcar to a sparkling VW camper van.


In the new book, the Tooting family find an abandoned engine and fit it to their camper van.

It turns out to belong to Chitty, who takes control of the van.
The Fleming family approached Cottrell Boyce, whose first book Millions, won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2004, to write the sequel and said they are 'absolutely thrilled' with the results.

Ms Fleming told The Independent on Sunday: 'There has been a great deal of care taken. It's a jolly tricky ask.

'He's made it funny and a bit frightening, and fun for grown-ups too.'
Ian Fleming's original novel was dedicated to the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car, built in 1920 by Count Louis Zborowski, a rich motor car enthusiast, on his estate in Canterbury. Fleming had seen the car when he was 16.
After suffering his first heart attack, Fleming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for his eight-year-old son Casper.

And when he sent the two volumes off to publishers Jonathan Cape - who handled his James Bond novels - he was unsure what they would think.
He needn't have worried as the novels became a firm favourite with children.

But tragically Fleming never got to see his success as he died of a heart attack just as the first copies of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang were leaving the printers in 1964, the day his son turned 12.
Casper died from a drug overdose just 11 years later at 23.
Father-of-seven Mr Cottrell Boyce said he was unsure whether to take up the mammoth task.
He said: 'I have no idea what made the Flemings think of asking me to write the sequel. I haven't asked them in case it's all a case of mistaken identity.

'I wasn't sure whether to say yes at first, but when I mentioned it at supper in my house, any doubts I might have had about whether the book actually needed a sequel were shouted down.

'Everyone wanted me to do this. So I went back to the book for the first time since I was a boy and was delighted to discover that, first of all, it's really good and, secondly, it's crying out for a sequel.

Laughs: Ian Fleming's classic children's novel was adapted for film by Roald Dahl who wrote the script

'The original book ends with the car heading off into the sunset with the family on board. They were surely going to have more adventures. But Fleming sadly died before he could say what those adventures might be.'
The film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, made in 1968, was written for the screen by Roald Dahl and brought new elements – the Child Catcher for instance –to the story.
It remains one of the classic children's film's made this century, starring Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts and Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious.

Read the first chapter of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again at http://uk.chittyfliesagain.com/the-book.html

[ladyshelby]

Dude, I just watched this on Saturday night!