Apple, who have been producing Peanuts series and specials in plentitude, have announced that they, Wildbrain, and Peanuts Worldwide are working together on a new Peanuts feature-length film, the Hollywood Reporter notes. If you liked the last feature film, then this should be very good news. They’re using a story by the same writers (Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano) and the same director (Steve Martino) as The Peanuts Movie. Also working on the screenplay is Karey Kirkpatrick, who has worked on such animated films as The Rescuers Down Under, Chicken Run, and The Smurfs 2. Theater fans should note that he co-wrote Something Rotten!.

The tale will thrust Charlie Brown and Snoopy into the big city, which is not something that there is a lot of Charles Schulz source to riff on. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do!

One open question: will it get a theatrical release, or will it go straight and solely to streaming? Until recently, films meant for streaming only seemed to get theatrical releases if they thought they might get an Oscar, and even then it was limited. However, the recent day-after-on-streaming release of the Five Nights at Freddy’s film has garnered hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, and given that the last Peanuts film did generate hundreds of millions at the box office as well, I would not be surprised to see both streaming and theatrical release available simultaneously.

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