Disney in Talks for Rights to Children's Book THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney is in talks to pick up the screen rights to K.A. Applegate's Newberry Medal-winning book THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, illustrated by Patricia Castelao.

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Allison Shearmur would produce the live-action adaptation. The project is currently scouting a writer.

THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN hit the shelves via HarperCollins in 2011 and follows "a silverback gorilla named Ivan who lives in a cage in a shopping mall along with an elephant named Stella and a stray dog called Bob."

Applegate based the plot on the true story of a gorilla named Ivan who lived for 27 years in a Washington mall and was eventually moved to the Atlanta Zoo. The author is well known for her children's sci-fi book series The Animorphs, which she created with her husband Michael Grant in the '90s.