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The only thing standing in the way of DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS becoming a movie was Dr. Seuss.

Seuss, aka Theodor Seuss Geisel, had passed on selling his books’ movie rights, including his 1957 bestseller GRINCH, prior to his death in 1991. Seuss’ unhappiness with Hollywood stemmed from his 1953 experience filming the live-action musical fantasy THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T.

DR. T didn’t go well for Dr. S so he nixed future bids to bring GRINCH to the big screen. It had already hit the small screen in 1966 as an animated special.

Things changed, however, after Seuss’ passing when Audrey Geisel, his widow, took control of the Dr. Seuss brand. At first, Mrs. G’s focus was on merchandising opportunities like clothes, accessories and music. Hollywood got back in the picture after Mrs. G saw and liked a stage production of GRINCH in San Diego.

In July ’98, Mrs. G’s agents told Hollywood what it would take to secure the GRINCH rights. There’d be an auction with bidders prepared to pay: $5M upfront for the movie rights plus 4% of the boxoffice gross, 50% of all merchandising revenues and 70% of the proceeds from book tie-ins & music. Actors hoping to play the Grinch had to be A-List names like Jim Carrey, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson & Robin Williams. Writers and  directors had to have already earned at least $1M on a previous project to be in the running for GRINCH.

Despite the stiff terms, Hollywood was very interested. 20th Century-Fox proposed Tom Shadyac (ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE) to direct. Producers Dave Phillips & John Davis wanted Jack Nicholson to star. The Farrelly Brothers and John Hughes all pitched making GRINCH. Universal joined the race with producer Brian Grazer and writer-director Gary Ross (SEABISCUIT).

Mrs. G was thumbs down on everyone. Grazer, however, wouldn’t give up. He went to Ron Howard, his Imagine Entertainment partner, to pursue the project. Although Howard didn’t want to do a live-action GRINCH, Grazer pushed Howard to join him to pitch Mrs. G. While preparing for the meeting, Howard came up with story & character ideas that brought GRINCH to Universal & Imagine.

They signed the deal in September ’98, with Howard to direct and Carrey to star. The buzz had Universal paying $9M for the rights to GRINCH and another Dr. Seuss book, OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!, that the studio didn’t make.
GRINCH’s screenplay by Jeffrey Price (WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT)  & Peter S. Seaman (DOC HOLLYWOOD) went through eight drafts before Mrs. G signed off on it.

It all paid off when Universal opened GRINCH Nov. 17, 2000 to $55M. Produced for $123M, it brought in $346.7M just from worldwide theatres.