In an effort to reach a new family audience, Sony’s Columbia Pictures has partnered with Penguin Random House UK subsidiary Frederick Warne & Co., Sydney-based animation studio Animal Logic (The LEGO Movie) and Olive Bridge Entertainment to produce the first-ever live-action/CGI-animated feature film based on the beloved Beatrix Potter book series Peter Rabbit.

Production on the movie, which features an all-star voice cast including James Cordon (The Late Late Show) in the title role, Rose Byrne as live-action female lead Bea and Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley, is scheduled to begin shooting in Australia in January for a 2018 release.

Will Gluck of Culver City-based Olive Bridge will direct the film and produce alongside Animal Logic’s Zareh Nalbandian. Doug Belgrad of Columbia Pictures, Jason Lust of Animal Logic’s L.A.-based division and Jodi Hildebrand of Olive Bridge are the project’s executive producers with Lauren Abrahams overseeing for Animal Logic.

The screenplay for Peter Rabbit comes from Rob Lieber with revisions by Gluck.

A global L&M program from Sony Pictures Entertainment in association with Warne will accompany the movie, which has additional support from Screen Australia and Screen NSW in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation.

Frederick Warne is the original publisher of Beatrix Potter. Her first book was published in 1902, and this year marks the 150th anniversary of Potter’s birth.

Today, more than two million Potter books are sold globally every year, a recent  Peter Rabbit animated series for CBeebies from Silvergate Media has been an international hit, and Peter Rabbit has appeared in books and products in more than 110 countries.