Monty Python musical Spamalot is heading for the big screen

A movie version of the Monty Python musical Spamalot is on the way.

According to Deadline, 20th Century Fox has snapped up the rights to the hit show, and original Python Eric Idle, who co-wrote the stage show, is penning the script.

Casey Nicholaw, who directed The Book of Mormon and choreographed the original Broadway production of Spamalot, is set to direct.

Deadline reports that the movie is being ‘fast-tracked’ by Fox, likely in the wake of the dazzling success of the studio’s recent screen musical The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman, which has made $429 million, and is still screening at cinemas now, despite having been released at Christmas.

The musical first appeared on Broadway in 2005, directed by Mike Nichols, and is adapted from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Starring Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce and Hank Azaria, it got rave reviews, scored 14 Tony Awards, went on run over 1500 performances – to two million people – and grossed over $175 million.

It arrived in the West End the following year, and has seen been staged everywhere from Melbourne and Barcelona to Mexico City.

The show was the subject of a lawsuit in 2013, after producer Mark Forstater sued Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin over royalties he claimed he was owed.

A judge ruled in his favour, which meant the troupe was hit with a legal bill of £800,000, which, Cleese said, was what prompted them to create the one-off stage show Monty Python Live (Mostly) in 2014.

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