We told you back then that Sony had picked up the life rights to the lion's owners, John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke. And even though YouTube has moved on to celebrate the likes of the "Single Ladies" kid or the crying Justin Bieber toddler, Christian The Lion will have his time on the big screen after all. The LA Times is reporting that Sony has hired writers Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft to handle the adventure story, and Neal Moritz will handle the producing duties.

Ashworth and Moorcroft are behind the very promising looking John Landis comedy Burke and Hare, starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis as a pair of 19th century grave robbers. I have no idea how those skills will lead into a heartwarming story about two dudes raising a lion, but I've gotten misty over the YouTube video so many times now that I'm clearly too in the tank to question it. Grab some tissues and watch the video that inspired it all below.