Teddy Ruxpin Live-Action Movie in the Works at Amazon MGM Studios From Seven Bucks, Story Kitchen (EXCLUSIVE)
A live-action movie based on the iconic animatronic ’80s toy Teddy Ruxpin is in the works at Amazon MGM Studios, Variety has learned.
The film about Teddy Ruxpin, who is canonically not a bear, but a bear-like creature known as an “illiop,” is set to be produced by Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions and Dmitri M. Johnson and Michael Lawrence Goldberg’s Story Kitchen with Chris Hazzard and Mike Fontana writing the script.
While details about the film are being kept under wraps, sources tell Variety the project — which was won by Amazon in a competitive bidding war — was pitched with a “‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ meets ‘Elf'” tone.
Created by former Disney Imagineer Ken Forsse, Teddy Ruxpin was launched by toy company Alchemy II in 1985 as the world’s first animated talking toy and went on to sell more than eight million units worldwide. Named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Greatest Toys of All-Time, Teddy Ruxpin expanded into a $7 billion franchise including animated TV series “The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin,” dozens of books, interactive games and other products.
The Teddy Ruxpin movie will be produced by Story Kitchen’s Johnson and Goldberg, as well as Seven Bucks’ Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. Timothy I. Stevenson will executive produce. Kimberly Bialek is overseeing the film for Seven Bucks.
The Teddy Ruxpin project marks the latest collaboration for Seven Bucks and Story Kitchen, which are currently partnered in development on a film adaptation of hit video game “It Takes Two” for Amazon MGM Studios.
Seven Bucks’ upcoming films include “The Smashing Machine,” written and directed by Benny Safdie and starring Johnson and Emily Blunt, and Disney’s live-action “Moana,” premiering in 2026.
Currently under a first-look TV deal at Amazon MGM Studios, Story Kitchen is executive producing Amazon’s upcoming “Tomb Raider” series and a TV show based on Square Enix’s video game “Life is Strange.” On the film side, Story Kitchen is producing an adaptation of Hazelight’s “Split Fiction,” starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Jon M. Chu.
Seven Bucks is repped by WME and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman, Inc.
Story Kitchen is repped by WME and Pryor Cashman.
Hazzard and Fontana are repped by CAA, Anonymous Content, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman.
Alchemy II is repped by Pryor Cashman.