Will Ferrell and frequent collaborator Adam McKay will bring the short-lived ’80s TV series Manimal to the big screen.

The pair’s Gary Sanchez label will produce with Jimmy Miller’s Mosaic for Sony. Jay Martel and Ian Roberts (Key & Peele) will write the script. No director has been announced yet.

The original Manimal told the story of Dr. Jonathan Chase (played by the late Simon MacCorkindale), a square-jawed millionaire who grew up in Africa, where he obtained the ability to shapeshift into any animal. Chase used his unique gift to fight crime alongside a beautiful police detective played by Melody Anderson, best known as Dale from 1980’s Flash Gordon.

While the original played the concept straight (to delightfully campy effect), according to Deadline, “Sony Pictures Animation’s live-action/animation hybrid will reinvent that concept as an action-comedy with heavy visual effects and animated elements.”

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