HBO Max is banking on classic kidlit with the first-ever animated adaptation of children’s book The Runaway Bunny, which will hop onto the SVOD March 25.
Amy Schatz (Goodnight Moon & Other Stories) is producing and directing the hand-drawn animated special (pictured) based on a 1942 HarperCollins book of the same name that has sold more than 12 million copies. Margaret Wise Brown wrote the book, illustrated by Clement Hurd. HBO Max’s 30-minute musical special about the eponymous restless bunny who dreams of leaving home will feature new songs from Mariah Carey and Tracee Ellis Ross, and MaGIK World Studio is handling the animation.
Schatz is an Emmy-winning kids media producer and director. HBO Max previously picked up her preschool-skewing Classical Baby series—which introduces preschoolers to classical music, art and dancing—as well as Goodnight Moon & Other Stories, an adaptation of the well-known bedtime book.
Some of HBO Max’s most popular programming—Wabbit (New Looney Tunes) and The Looney Tunes Show, featuring Bugs Bunny and his friends—is similarly bunny-centric, according to Parrot Analytics. And WarnerMedia’s kids team has also greenlit Bugs Bunny Builders, which follows Bugs and Lola as they manage a construction crew.