Can someone tell Bo Burnham how to get to Sesame Street?
The comedian-turned-Eighth Grade filmmaker will contribute songs to an upcoming live-action Sesame Street movie, EW has confirmed. Set to be released in 2021, the film will star Anne Hathaway alongside a familiar cast of Sesame Street characters. Jonathan Krisel, known for his work on Portlandia and for co-creating FX’s Baskets, is directing.
The film is to follow the Sesame Street gang as they are mysteriously expelled from their neighborhood of sunny days where the air is sweet. Together with history show host Sally Hawthorne, who’s trying to save her own show, they must prove that Sesame Street really exists. This is the third big-screen adaptation of the groundbreaking children’s show, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, after 1985’s Follow That Bird and 1999’s The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
As Burnham’s fans will know, this is not his first foray into songwriting. He rose to prominence through songs posted on YouTube before making the leap to stand-up, where he made plentiful use of music and song in his routines. In 2018, Burnham released his directorial debut, Eighth Grade, which earned tremendous critical acclaim and multiple awards for Burnham’s screenplay and direction.
Warner Bros. will release the yet-untitled Sesame Street film January 15, 2021.
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Bo Burnham originally thought no one would ever take Eighth Grade seriously