MRC Acquires Film and Stage Rights to ELOISE Series

According to Deadline, independent film company MRC has just acquired film, TV and stage rights to the Eloise series, which it will be developed into "various adaptations."

Eloise is a series of children's books written in the 1950s by Kay Thompson (1909-1998) and illustrated by Hilary Knight (b. 1926). Thompson and Knight followed up Eloise (1955) with four sequels.

Eloise is a young girl who lives in the "room on the tippy-top floor" of the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her nanny, her pug dog, Weenie, and her turtle, Skipperdee.

The character was developed by the author based on her childhood imaginary friend and alter ego, with a voice in which Thompson spoke throughout her life, according to her biographer, filmmaker Sam Irvin. Thompson's goddaughter, Liza Minnelli, was often speculated as a possible model for Eloise.