Les Miserables – the Movie!

The musical Les Miserables is now in its 25th year in London’s West End. Its producer Cameron Mackintosh, has joined forces with the London-based film studio Working Title to bring the show to the big screen. It is still very early days, but rumour has it that Cameron and Eric Fellner (who runs WT with Tim Bevan) are committed to making the picture together.

This is in part due to the fact that ticket sales soared when Susan Boyle sang the “I Dreamed A Dream” on Britain's Got Talent.It was viewed 85 million times on YouTube and studio chiefs became even more convinced of the public's affection for the show .

The Les Mis movie will not go into production before 2011 or early 2012 because WT have other projects to complete first and Cameron is busy with a string of stage shows, plus a new big-screen version of My Fair Lady (looking for a director after the departure of Oscar-winner Danny Boyle

Cameron has said there are endless casting possibilities for all the roles, but it's too early to discuss specific roles or actors.

The touring production of Les Miserables kicks off at the Millennium Centre, Cardiff on December 12th with John Owen-Jones as Valjean and Gareth Gates as Marius. It will visit Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Paris. Most of the shows are sold out already.

The show continues at the Queen's Theatre in London where it will have its 25th anniversary celebrations next year.