Chitty Chitty Bang Bang might be taking to the skies on the big screen once again in a new feature film in the works at Amazon MGM Studios and London-based Eon Productions. 

It’s been 60 years since the world was first introduced to the flying “four-fendered friend” at the heart of British author Ian Fleming’s 1964 children’s book Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car. It revolves around an oddball inventor who fixes a broken-down car and names it “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” after the sounds its engine makes. He later comes up with a fantastical story for his kids that’s set in the fictional land of Vulgaria, where a wicked ruler wants to steal the car from them. 

Fleming’s book was adapted as a 1968 live-action family movie, based on a screenplay penned by director Ken Hughes and children’s author Roald Dahl. Eon Productions co-founder Albert Broccoli produced that first pic, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song (“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”).

Eon and MGM already have a good working relationship as partners on the popular James Bond film franchise, which is also based on novels by Fleming. The team is looking to stage a theatrical release for this remake—which is still in very early development—and is currently meeting with potential writers and directors. 

Over the years, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang IP has also inspired a syndicated newspaper comic strip series, a 2002 stage musical and three sequel books penned by Frank Cottrell-Boyce that were published between 2011 and 2013.

Featured image: Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes on the set of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 1967 (C. Maher/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)