20th Century Fox and Walden Media have teamed to buy the rights to the single panel comic The Family Circus with the intent to make a live-action feature film.  Fox has hired Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir — two of the six writers behind Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (!) — to pen the adaptation.  According to Deadline, the rights were a hot item amongst the studios, each dreaming of a “multiple quadrant family franchise.”

I am not the target audience for the strip, which is fine.  But creator Bil Keane’s work is impressive by sheer force of longevity.  First publised in 1960, The Family Circus enters its sixth decade as the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world.  A conservative estimate tallies over 15,000 cute things that kids have said.  Hit the jump for a bit more info on the comic, plus a few choice selections from the funny pages.