‘The Borrowers’ Reboot in the Works Because Sure, Why Not

Next up to be rebooted is…*spins wheel*…The Borrowers. Because sure, why not? We’ve all agreed that there are no more new ideas so it’s best to just keep rebooting things forever until the sun burns out, and it’s been almost 25 years since Hollywood gave this one a go. The latest adaptation will be based on the Mary Norton book series of the same that follows a family of extremely tiny people who live in the walls and floors of a house. That sounds kind of disturbing when I type it out like that, but this is meant to be a heartwarming, family-friendly tale.

Deadline has the scoop on The Borrowers reboot, reporting that Universal Pictures and Working Title are working on an “updated” version of the children’s book published back in 1952. The book spawned several sequels: The Borrowers Afield, The Borrowers Afloat, The Borrowers Aloft, and The Borrowers Avenged. The Borrowers Avenged sounds like the coolest entry based on the title alone, but having not read the series, I can’t confirm for sure.

In the original book, “The Borrowers—the Clock family: Homily, Pod, and their fourteen-year-old daughter, Arrietty, to be precise—are tiny people who live underneath the kitchen floor of an old English country manor. All their minuscule home furnishings, from postage stamp paintings to champagne cork chairs, are ‘borrowed’ from the ‘human beans’ who tromp around loudly above them. All is well until Pod is spotted upstairs by a human boy! Can the Clocks stay nested safely in their beloved hidden home, or will they be forced to flee?”

Sausage Party and The Addams Family director Conrad Vernon is in talks to helm the movie from a script by Patrick Burleigh (Peter Rabbit 2: the Runaway). The Borrowers has been adapted several times already. There was a 1973 American made-for-TV movie and a BBC TV series that launched in 1992. In 1997 we got a feature film adaptation starring John Goodman. The Studio Ghibli film The Secret World of Arrietty is also based on the book. There’s also a 2011 BBC movie and an animated series. And now there’s this latest reboot to join the list. Deadline reports that the plan is to make this a live-action movie, similar to the 1997 film. Speaking of which, here’s an extremely non-HD trailer for that.