Award-winning director Josh Greenbaum (Will & Harper, The Short Game, Strays, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) is venturing into a nostalgic animated universe, signed on to helm a new Care Bears feature film for Warner Bros. Pictures. Greenbaum is doubling up on 1980s throwbacks, as he will also be bringing the Mel Brooks sci-fi spoof Spaceballs back for Amazon MGM.
Designed by artist Elena Kucharik as a line of greeting card characters for American Greetings (now brand holder Cloudco Entertainment), the Care Bears are colorful, magical creatures whose unique “belly badge” symbols denote their personalities and emotion-based talents, with names like Cheer Bear, Share Bear, Grumpy Bear and Funshine Bear. As the franchise developed across toys, collectibles and 2D animated series and movies, they were joined by other animals known as the Care Bear Cousins.
Two animated specials in 1983, the original Care Bears series and The Care Bears Movie (1985) introduced audiences to the animated world of Care-A-Lot. Since then, the characters have appeared in four additional movies as well as direct-to-video adventures and five additional television series, up to their current iteration in Care Bears: Unlock the Magic. The vintage franchise raked in $470 million in global retail sales in 2024 with over $10 billion in lifetime retail.
Greenbaum is currently in post-production on a comedy about pickleball, titled The Dink, with Ben Stiller and Jake Johnson. He is represented by UTA, Entertainment 360, and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols.
[Source: Deadline]
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