Cardboard Produce boxes

Actor Tobey Maguire is flexing his child-like imagination with an adaptation of Doug TenNapel’s graphic novel that sees cardboard creations come to life. Maguire is set to executive produce the project through his banner, Material Pictures, alongside TenNapel and the Gotham Group. The Fox Animation acquisition would be animated by WedgeWorks, with Chris Wedge (Ice Age) eyeing the director’s chair. Cardboard follows a down-on-his-luck father who gives his young son a crappy birthday present (a cardboard box), which comes to life once they shape it into a man. Hit the jump for more.

Variety reports that Maguire, who voiced a character in Cats & Dogs, may also star in Cardboard if the project moves forward. The actor, unfortunately, won’t be seen in the upcoming Ang Lee film, since the director recently cut him from the picture. There’s a much better chance of spotting Maguire in Baz Luhrman’s when it debuts next summer.

TenNapel also has two other projects in the works based off of his previous novels: at Disney and with Paramount.

Here’s the book description for Cardboard (via Amazon):

When cardboard creatures come magically to life, a boy must save his town from disaster.

Cam’s down-and-out father gives him a cardboard box for his birthday and he knows it’s the worst present ever. So to make the best of a bad situation, they bend the cardboard into a man-and to their astonishment, it comes magically to life. But the neighborhood bully, Marcus, warps the powerful cardboard into his own evil creations that threaten to destroy them all!

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