A Berenstain movie?

With the first “Berenstain Bears” book being published in the 1960s, many of us grew up on the adventures of Ma, Pa, Brother and Sister (my personal fave was “Learn About Strangers,” which appropriately creeped me out for weeks). But never in my wildest imagination did I think they’d be getting the live-action movie treatment. Shawn Levy (NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM) has signed on to direct THE BERENSTAIN BEARS for Walden Media that will have the bears of Bear Country finally interacting with the real world. Did THE COUNTRY BEARS teach us nothing??

Levy says the franchise happens to “fit firmly within the wheelhouse of family-genre comedy I do,” which is perhaps the understatement of the century. He’s be doing safe and boring, yet successful, comedies since 2002. Walden, who at one time had a first-look deal with Fox, has the project on the fast-track and will begin filming in 2011 (that doesn’t seem very fast-trackish but they need 2010 to get all the lengthy pre-production work done). Levy’s next film, DATE NIGHT with Steve Carell and Tina Fey, hits theaters in April.