If you’re a Ryan Reynolds lover, this brand of silly, juvenile humor must surely appeal. And this is a children’s movie based on a kid’s book, so “juvenile” surely works here. (Okay, haters, rein it in.) Per Deadline, the story “follows dung beetle Dougie who starts at a new school in a new town. There he struggles to hide who he is—and what he eats. But when a series of mysterious disappearances plagues the town, Dougie and his whole community discover that what makes them different…might just be what makes them heroes.”
In addition to Reynolds’ involvement, I Eat Poop has quite an impressive pedigree behind the scenes. Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley (who also co-wrote Inside Out and directed Transformers One) is set to helm the feature. EGOT winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (the songwriting duo behind Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, and the iconic “Which Of The Pickwick Triplets Did It?” from Only Murders In The Building) are also producing via their Ampersand banner. Having Pasek and Paul on board suggests that I Eat Poop may be a musical, though Deadline has no info on that front. The duo previously wrote songs for Reynolds’ Apple TV+ Christmas musical Spirited.
Paramount, of course, is quite in flux these days as it awaits merger approval with Skydance Media. Skydance has its own animation wing, which is run by ousted Pixar czar (and Cooley’s former boss) John Lasseter. Who knows what will happen to these individual animation studios and the projects there when the merger happens—or if the merger happens (if it doesn’t, Paramount is in trouble). I Eat Poop, despite its very silly name and premise, has a lot of wisdom to share, to hear Macmillan Publishers tell it: the story inspires conversations about “Bullying and being kind,” “Standing up for your friends and speaking up for your beliefs,” “Being proud of your culture and heritage,” and “Embracing diversity and accepting and celebrating differences.” Those all seem like good lessons for kids to learn these days, even if an animated character has to eat shit to do it.
