Variety tells us that 20th Century Fox has acquired the rights to the children’s book series Fancy Nancy, and will partner with director Shawn Levy’s production company 21 Laps to produce. Aimed at children aged 5-7, Jane O’ Connor‘s series of 36 (and counting) books have sold over 10 million copies worldwide, with the first spending upwards to 100 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. Seeing as it’s aimed for such a young demographic, there really isn’t an intricate plot with multiple threads and hidden subtext; instead it just centers around a young girl named Nancy who likes to dress up in fancy clothes, use big fancy words, and has a doll named Marabelle Lavinia Chandelier. I would like to take this moment to officially hand in my man card for the rest of eternity for writing that last sentence.
With the Fancy Nancy series being so popular and spawning scores of merchandise, it’s a no-brainer for a studio to pick it up and turn it into a (hopefully) lucrative film franchise. I also applaud them for appealing to the young female demographic, which doesn’t really get much catering, since people don’t think females watch movies, no matter what age. Much respect. But besides that? I’m good with never again paying attention to Fancy Nancy and her fancy exploits doing fancy things and FANCY FANCY FANCY — sorry about that. I shorted out there. Fancy.
Do you think Fancy Nancy will make for a fancy time at the theater?