The My Little Pony Movie

Considering the widespread success of its latest incarnation “Friendship is Magic,” it’s shocking it’s taken this long, but “My Little Pony” is finally getting a feature film.

Variety revealed that Hasbro Studios, the production company behind the cartoon series “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” has greenlit an animated “My Little Pony” movie that’s slated to hit theaters in 2017.

Typically a toymaker, Hasbro has licensed out other properties to studios for movie adaptation. Paramounts made bank with “Transformer”s and “G.I. Joe.” Sony is working out movie versions of board games “Monopoly” and “Candy Land,” while Universal will unveil “Oujia” this weekend.

But for “My Little Pony’s” movie, Hasbro’s looking to be more hands on. The production company will finance the film and produce alongside Allspark Pictures, a new banner that’s currently in postproduction on another 1980s toy-inspired movie, “Jem and the Holograms.”

We suspect that the “My Little Pony” movie will attempt to appeal to the entirety of the TV’s shows current fandom. But it’ll be interesting to see how many Easter Eggs might be included about the fervent fan culture.

For now, fans of the show will be relieved to know that Megan McCarthy, who writes and produces for “Friendship is Magic,” is on board as a producer for the movie. However, there’s no mention of Lauren Faust’s involvement.

Instead, Hasbro has contracted Joe Ballarini, writer of the 2008 horror-comedy “Dance of the Dead” to pen the script. It’s an odd choice to say the least, but maybe the guy’s a Brony who sold himself with a solid pitch. From here, we’ll be interested to see who Hasbro brings in to direct this animated feature.