This summer's Hugh Grant movie ''About a Boy'' charmed critics but was only a moderate hit with audiences, scoring less than $50 million in the U.S. and about $100 million worldwide, according to Variety. Still, Fox thinks the comedy, about a womanizing bachelor who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a misfit 12-year-old boy and his depressed mother, would make a fine sitcom. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the network has ordered up a pilot from the film's producers, who include Universal Pictures, Britain's Working Title Films, and Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions.
The story, which was originally a bestselling novel by Nick Hornby, will be Americanized, with the setting probably moving to New York from London, Variety reports. The script will be adapted by writer Matthew Carlson, who handled the transfer of another British import, ''Men Behaving Badly,'' to American TV.
Fox comedy VP Tracy Katsky told Variety she liked the idea because of its offbeat tone and the way the characters form ''an interesting, unconventional family unit. I liked that this feels like an edgy take on family situations that's not on TV.'' Certainly, no network is better known for edgy takes on family situations than Fox.
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