Yogi Bear goes to the big screen

He's smarter than the average bear, partial to the odd pic-a-nic basket and pals with Boo Boo, and pretty soon he's going to a film star too. That's right, prepare yourself for Yogi Bear: The Movie, a fusion of live action and CGI, that, if Warner Bros. get their way, will see Dan Aykroyd voicing the furry, park-dwellin' felon.

Definitely involved in the Jellystone japes is Anna Faris who'll play a documentary-maker that may or may not be modelled on Grizzly Man-era Werner Herzog. Justin Timberlake, meanwhile, is in talks to voice Yogi's bow-tie wearing sidekick Boo Boo.

It's a fairly demented sounding proposition but will hopefully be a step up from previous live-action/CG Hanna-Barbera adaptations, not least because there's more of them to come. A lot more.

Warners are currently hard at work on a number of Hanna-Barbera properties, including Scooby-Doo 4, Jonny Quest, and the intriguing-sounding Hong Kong Phooey, a dark-tinged origin story of the filing-cabinet-based janitor. We hope.

Yogi is first cab off the rank though, with Eric Brevig (Journey To The Center Of The Earth) set to direct from a script by Brad Copeland. According to Variety, shooting will kick off in New Zealand before Christmas.