Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures Team on Acquisition of 'The Anybodies,' First Book in a Series by Best-Selling Author Julianna Baggott

Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures Team on Acquisition of 'The Anybodies,' First Book in a Series by Best-Selling Author Julianna Baggott SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures today announced that they have jointly acquired the motion-picture rights to "The Anybodies," written by best-selling author Julianna Baggott and illustrated by Peter Ferguson. The announcement was made today by Julia Pistor, Senior Vice President, Nick Movies and Donald De Line, Vice Chairman, Motion Picture Group and President, Paramount Pictures. "The Anybodies," penned by Baggott's fictitious N.E. Bode, is a whimsical adventure tale about a eleven-year-old heroine named Fern who learns she was switched at birth and that she is a member of "The Anybodies" -- an extremely rare breed of human with powers to change shape. With her real father's help, Fern must find the 'manual' to being an "Anybody" -- before it falls into the hands of a sinister magician. In the tradition of the "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" series, "The Anybodies" introduces a resourceful kid who must navigate a bizarre and imaginative world in a desperate effort to find family and a home. The book has garnered acclaimed reviews from the School Library Journal, the Kirkus Review and was recently mentioned in People Magazine's list of the top five books for "what's cool this summer" and was selected as Booksense pick for Fall 2004. Julianna Baggott is an award-winning novelist known for her adult literary fiction which includes best-sellers "Girl Talk" and "The Miss America Family." "The Anybodies" is Baggott's initial foray into children's literature and is the first in a planned trilogy from HarperCollins Children's Books. The next book following is entitled "The Nobodies." The project was brought to Nick Movies and Paramount Pictures through Damon Ross, VP of Development. He will supervise development with Julia Pistor who will serve as Producer for the film. The deal was brokered by Justin Manask of the Intellectual Property Group. "The Anybodies" is published by HarperCollins Children's Books. Nickelodeon Movies is the feature film development and production division of Nickelodeon which produces movies for kids and their families in association with its sister Viacom company, Paramount Pictures. Nickelodeon Movies was created in 1993 to develop and produce several types of films, which include star-driven family event movies, kids first movies and animated features, all of which bring extraordinary events, characters and situations into everyday contemporary life. Nickelodeon feature film releases have grossed more than a half billion at the box office and include the Oscar(R) nominated "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius," "Rugrats Go Wild," "The Rugrats Movie," "Snow Day," "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie," "Clockstoppers" and "The Wild Thornberrys Movie," among others. Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Movies and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc., one of the world's largest entertainment and media companies, and a leader in the production, promotion and distribution of entertainment, news, sports and music. Source: Nickelodeon Movies; Paramount Pictures CONTACT: M. Janet Hill, +1-310-752-8073, or Alison Mochizuki, +1-310-752-8044, both of Nick Movies ------- Profile: International Entertainment