Adam Shankman in for "Bye Bye Birdie"

My kids and I loved "Bedtime Stories," and director Adam Shankman (pictured) is on to his next project. He’ll be developing and producing a remake of "Bye Bye Birdie" for Columbia Pictures.

It’s about time the film got underway; it’s been in the works for several years now.

The story centers on Conrad Birdie, a popular singer based loosely on Elvis Presley. He’s about to be shipped off to the army, but as part of a publicity stunt, he agrees to one last encounter with a fan before he goes to war.

The 1958 musical has had several screen adaptations, including an Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke version in 1963 and a television movie starring Jason Alexander in 1995.

More after the jump…

No writer is attached to the current project, but it’s gone through several gestations in the past several years:

• The title character was going to be a hip-hop star.
• Several writers have taken cracks at the story, including John Chu, "Step Up 2 the Streets" director John Chu and Tina Fey of "SNL"/"30 Rock" fame. 

Shankman is a veteran choreographer who produced and directed the "Hairspray" remake in 2007. He’s recently lined up two projects, directing "Bob: The Musical" for Disney and "The 8th Voyage of Sinbad" for Columbia. Check out Shankman’s IMDB page – he’s got about 20 projects lined up in the next couple of years.

Image: Adam Shankman, The Pacifier, Walt Disney Studios, 2005