The mega-popular webcomic Penny Arcade is heading to the big screen as an animated feature -- kind of. Rather than featuring Gabe and Tycho, the alter egos of creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik whose gaming adventures usually dominate the strip, Paramount Pictures plans to base the movie on a one-off Penny Arcade comic from 2010 called "The New Kid."

The strip introduces us to a familiar situation: a young boy nervous to begin classes at a new school, and frustrated that his father's job keeps uprooting his life and forcing him to start over. The twist? Rather than moving to different states or even countries, this boy is faced with the prospect of being the new kid on a totally different planet.When the strip was originally posted in October 2010, Holkins (a.k.a Tycho) said it "could be the biggest thing we ever do," and Krahulik (a.k.a. Gabe) wrote:

Being the new kid is hard, being the new kid in a school full of aliens is harder. Tycho mentioned that this one could be the biggest thing we ever do and I think he's right. My fantasy is to see Dreamworks, Disney or Nickelodeon make an animated feature or a Saturday morning cartoon out of this one. Who knows maybe they will see it and give me a call!


Looks like somebody did! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Book of Eli writer Gary Whitta is slated to script the film for Paramount, setting up another animated feature for the studio as its distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation comes to a close. Paramount's last animated feature, Rango, was also produced without DreamWorks Animation and grossed $240 million worldwide.

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