Oct 19, 2021

Watch the trailer for the first animated "Diary of a Wimpy Child" movie

The first animated feature based on Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid illustrated novel series will launch December 3 on Disney+. Considering the popularity of the books - they'd sold more than 250 million copies as of last year - it's surprising it took this long.

Watch the first trailer for Diary of a Wimpy Kid below:

Fifteen books in the series have been released to date, with a 16th due next week, but Disney's film returns to the 2007 original. We meet Greg Heffley, a skinny kid who dreams of fame but first has to navigate the hazards of middle school. The cartoonish character designs are true to the spirit of Kinney's original line drawings, which also come to life in animated 2d segments.

Kinney's books have already spawned four live-action films made at 20th Century Fox, the first of which was also based on the original book. Fox started developing a Wimpy Kid animated series, but following its acquisition by Disney in 2019, the project was reimagined as a film.

The director is Swinton Scott (The Simpsons, Futurama). Kinney writes and produces. The cast is led by Brady Noon, Ethan William Childress, and Chris Diamantopoulos.