Paramount Pictures has hired The Smurfs writers J. David Stem and David Weiss to pen the screenplay for The Ringling Brothers.

The story is being kept under wraps, but the studio is describing it as a modern family adventure in the spirit of Night at the Museum and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It obviously won't be a straight forward biopic on the creation of this traveling sideshow.

The original Ringling act was created by seven brothers who ended up running one of the most successful and largest circuses in America at the turn of the 20th Century. The circus was able to buy its nearest competitor, the equally famous Barnum & Bailey, and coined the phrase "The Greatest Show on Earth." Their circus shows still remains popular and tour throughout the country to this day.

John Davis and Adam Kolbrenner are producing for the studio.

This project is still in development.