{"id":14238,"date":"2025-07-22T20:24:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T20:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/14238\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T20:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T20:24:07","slug":"ken-daurio-of-despicable-me-to-write-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/14238\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Daurio of ‘Despicable Me’ to Write Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tKen Daurio, the writer behind such animation<\/a> franchises as Despicable Me<\/a> and The Secret Life of Pets<\/a>, is set to pen the script for a new feature adaptation. <\/p>\n

\n\tSycamore Studios has tapped Daurio to write its animated movie Zita the Spacegirl, based on Ben Hatke\u2019s best-selling graphic novel series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. Production is expected to begin in early 2026 on the project that counts Marvel Studios alum Jeremy Latcham<\/a> (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, The Avengers) as executive producer.<\/p>\n

\n\tZita the Spacegirl centers on a girl who finds a strange device that sends her to an alien world, where she must save her friend and possibly the entire galaxy. The film marks the second feature project in the works for Sycamore Studios, a new entertainment company from co-founders Christian McGuigan and Tim Reckart.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKen\u2019s writing proves that there doesn\u2019t have to be a tradeoff between emotion and comedy,\u201d says Sycamore chief creative officer Reckart. \u201cHis mastery of the comedic touch that unlocks emotional truth is perfect for bringing Zita\u2019s adventures to the big screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDaurio praises the emotional resonance of Hatke\u2019s source material. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to write a story about a little girl who needs to save the world but doesn\u2019t have superpowers,\u201d Daurio says. \u201cZita is brave, funny and completely her own person, and that\u2019s what makes her so compelling. I can\u2019t wait to take audiences on this journey with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdds Sycamore head of production and distribution Cooper Waterman, \u201cKen\u2019s track record speaks for itself, but what excited us most was how personally he connected to the material. He brings the rare ability to balance spectacle with soul, exactly what\u00a0Zita\u00a0needs to stand out in today\u2019s marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDaurio co-wrote the first three Despicable Me films with Cinco Paul and co-wrote last year\u2019s Despicable Me 4<\/a> with Mike White. The Despicable Me franchise has surpassed $5 billion at the worldwide box office to become the biggest animated movie series ever.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first Zita the Spacegirl graphic novel published in 2010. Sycamore previously announced that it is developing a new take on Doctor Dolittle from screenwriters Cal Brunker and Bob Barlen (Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie). <\/p>\n

\n\tDaurio is represented by Gersh and Carlos Goodman at Goodman Genow. McGuigan, Waterman and Brandon Milostan of Greenberg Glusker negotiated the deal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ken Daurio, the writer behind such animation franchises as Despicable Me and The Secret Life of Pets, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1840,64,63,15712,134,15713,344,15714],"class_list":["post-14238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animation","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-despicable-me","tag-entertainment","tag-jeremy-latcham","tag-movies","tag-the-secret-life-of-pets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}