Chip ‘n’ Dale, Disney’s classic cartoon chipmunk duo, is being revived with the goal of becoming a big-screen feature.

The studio has picked up a pitch from Robert Rugan, an award-winning commercials director, who is writing an updated take on the characters in what is being envisioned as a live-action/CG hybrid.

Mandeville Films/TV, the Disney-based production shingle run by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman that is also behind the studio’s Muppets franchise, is producing.

Chip ‘n’ Dale first appeared in a 1943 animated short starring Pluto, and went on to appear in 22 reels stretching into the mid-1950s where the duo either annoyed Mickey’s faithful four-legged friend or squared off against Donald Duck.

They popped up in various Disney cartoons and comics but got a makeover in in 1989 with Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers. The show saw Chip, the brains behind the pair, and Dale, the goofball, running a detective agency and helping animal clients. Disney made three seasons' worth of shows that then ran in syndication for the next decade on The Disney Channel.

It is from Rescue Rangers that the new project would spring as it tells an origin story of sorts.

Mandeville's Alexander Young is overseeing for the shingle and will exec produce.

Live-action/CG hybrids have proven to be quite successful. Fox is in the process of making a fourth Alvin and the Chipmunks picture while Sony Pictures Animation made two Smurfs movie.

Mandeville's Muppets Most Wanted hits theaters March 21.

Rugan has done spots for companies such as Visa, IFC, HBO, Kodak, Nikon and Durex, winning two CLIO Awards and the CyberLion at Cannes. He was also behind popular video Wiley vs Rhodes, a live-action spoof of a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon.

Rugen is attached to direct Genies (aka Children of the Lamp) at Paramount with Color Force (The Hunger Games) attached to produced. He is currently adapting the book series The Genius Files for Warners and wrote an original script titled Beauregard Thibodeau to which he is attached to direct while Logan Pictures is on board to produce.

He is repped by Verve, Kaplan/Perrone and Hirsch Wallerstein.

It is from Rescue Rangers that the new project would spring as it tells an origin story of sorts.

Disney’s feature film reimagining of Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers has found its director.

Akiva Schaffer, one-third of Lonely Island along with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone's, has closed a deal to direct the studio’s live-action/CG hybrid take on Rescue Rangers, featuring the classic chipmunk duo.

David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, who produced The Muppets as well as Beauty and the Beast for the studio, are producing the project, whose distribution path is unclear. It may end up a theatrical release or could head to Disney+, the company’s upcoming streaming service that launches later this year.

Chip ‘n Dale have been tormenting various Disney characters since 1943 but got a makeover in in 1989 with Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers. The show saw Chip, the brains behind the pair, and Dale, the goofball, running a detective agency and helping animal clients. Disney made three seasons' worth of shows that then ran in syndication for the next decade on The Disney Channel.

Plot details for Rangers are being squirreled away, but it will not be an origin story nor detective agency story. Rather, the take is being described as being meta, something self-referential and cool. Dan Gregor and Doug Mand wrote the script.

That meta take could prove to be perfect match in the hands of Schaffer, who with his Lonely Island cohorts made classic digital shorts for Saturday Night Live, both as writer and director. He also co-directed the mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Stopping, acclaimed Hulu comedy Pen15, and off-the-wall sketch comedy series I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. Schaffer is repped by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham.

Execs Louie Provost and Jessica Virtue are overseeing for the studio, Alex Young is shepherding for Mandeville Films/TV.

They popped up in various Disney cartoons and comics but got a makeover in in 1989 with Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers. The show saw Chip, the brains behind the pair, and Dale, the goofball, running a detective agency and helping animal clients. Disney made three seasons' worth of shows that then ran in syndication for the next decade on The Disney Channel.

Chip ‘n Dale have been tormenting various Disney characters since 1943 but got a makeover in in 1989 with Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers. The show saw Chip, the brains behind the pair, and Dale, the goofball, running a detective agency and helping animal clients. Disney made three seasons' worth of shows that then ran in syndication for the next decade on The Disney Channel.