The animated film picks up from a project about a small flying dinosaur the famed pair, known for their work on ‘The Jungle Book,’ ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,’ and ‘Mary Poppins,’ set down in 2008.
No Fat Ego’s Niels Juul has teamed with Sherman Theatrical Entertainment to adapt Inkas the Ramferinkas into an animated musical. The film, which follows a small flying dinosaur, pulls from a decades-long project from the Sherman Brothers, best known for their musical contributions to multiple Disney classics, including The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Mary Poppins. The songwriters are also known for penning the most loved (and loathed) song “It’s a Small World (After All).”
The upcoming film marks the only musical from the late Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman. Before teaming with Disney, the brothers were focused on adapting Inkas, which began as a children’s record from 1951, into a film. In the mid-2000s, Robert’s son Robbie optioned the rights to the Inkas IP and worked with his father and uncle to pen a feature-length script.
Robbie Sherman told Variety, “I grew up with ‘Inkas.’ I knew all the characters and their songs by heart. I always believed that if the rest of the world were introduced to them, they would fall in love with them too.”
The Sherman Brothers scored the script with 10 songs and worked with a storyboard team that included veterans of Disney, Warner Brothers and DreamWorks. Unfortunately, the project was put on an indefinite hold in 2008. Finally, in 2020, Robbie co-founded Sherman Theatrical Entertainment, Ltd. with co-CEOs Bret Goldin and Andrew Kaplan, who have teamed with Juul and Sofie Nordstrom to resurrect the wayward film.
Goldin stated, “It’s not every day that you can be a part of something immortal. Sherman Brothers’ musicals stand the test of time and as songwriters, they are the Mozarts of the modern age.”
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with Niels Juul, Sofie Nordstrom and No Fat Ego,” Kaplan added. “Niels wants to be a part of something positive. And that’s really what we’re all about too.”
Concludes Juul, “It’s hard to imagine my childhood without the brilliant and fantasy-inducing musical tapestry of the Sherman Brothers and for me, all these decades later to be able to help Robbie and his team bringing their first musical work to the screen is not just an honor, but an offer that my inner child could not refuse. The Sherman Brothers are truly timeless, and we look forward to exposing the world to even more of their iconic work.”
A release date for Inkas the Ramferinkas has yet to be announced.
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