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Tracy Mumford

'Little House on the Prairie' goes Hollywood: Wilder movie in the works

Melissa Gilbert In 'Little House on the Prairie'
Actress Melissa Gilbert played Laura Ingalls Wilder in the television adaptation of "Little House on the Prairie," which aired from 1974 to 1983.
NBC Television | Getty Images

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Laura Ingalls Wilder fans, hold on to your bonnets: It's been a long journey, but the family wagon is one oxen change closer to pulling into theaters.

Paramount Pictures has acquired the "Little House on the Prairie" movie project, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sony originally picked up the rights in 2012, but never saddled the horses.

The film, which does not yet have a release date, will be directed by "Martha Marcy May Marlene" filmmaker Sean Durkin, with a script by Abi Morgan.

Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband Almanzo, 1885
Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband, Almanzo, in 1855
Public domain via Wikipedia

Wilder's tales of life on the prairie have captivated millions of readers since the first book was published in 1932. A new generation of bonnet-loving, hair-braiding fans was converted when the television adaptation launched in 1974. The show starred Michael Landon as Pa Ingalls and Melissa Gilbert as Laura herself.

The show was set in Walnut Grove, Minn. — though it was filmed in California. The Ingalls family's real travels took them all across the Midwest, through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas and South Dakota.

In 2014, fans clamoring for more from Wilder received a historical treat: Pamela Smith Hill released "Pioneer Girl," Wilder's annotated autobiography. The book instantly sold out of its first print run as readers dug into Wilder's adult account of her life on the frontier.

The "Little House" books, she always maintained, were mostly true. Hill notes that Wilder called them "not a history but a true story founded on historical fact." The television show took its own liberties with Wilder's life story. Now it's time to see Hollywood's interpretation of life in 1800s Minnesota.

If you can't wait until Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura and Almanzo make their movie debut, you can visit a number of local historical sites from Pepin, Wis., to Walnut Grove to DeSmet, S.D., to get your Wilder fix.