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Opus on the silver screen?Berke Breathed's cartoon penguin began with Bloom County and Outland but is now ready for his close-up.
Opus, the titular penguin from Berke Breathed's cartoon strip, will star in Opus: The Last Christmas.
(Source: Coming Soon) Twenty-seven years after his comic strip debut, Opus the Penguin is coming to the silver screen. The Weinstein Company (Hoodwinked) will produce Opus: The Last Christmas, scheduled for a December 19, 2008 theatrical release. Opus cartoonist Berkely "Berke" Breathed will write and direct the movie. Given Breathed's history of social commentary, the film will likely get a PG rating. Opus made his 1981 debut in Breathed's first daily cartoon strip, Bloom County, as a one-shot gag: regular character Mike Binkley bought the penguin, thinking he was a German Shepherd. However, after creator Breathed gave Opus the immortal line "Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts!" he quickly became the emotional centre for the Pulitzer-winning strip, and Breathed's favourite character. In 1989, when Breathed replaced Bloom County with the more surreal, Sunday-only Outland, Opus was the first major Bloom County character to cross over. He stayed with Outland until its end in 1995. In 2003, Breathed came out of retirement with the Sunday-only Opus, because he wanted to make his own commentary about the Iraq War. There's very little information on Opus: The Last Christmas so far, but rest assured that I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
The copyright of the article Opus on the silver screen? in Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish Opus on the silver screen? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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