Fox ponies up big for 'Tooth'

Net puts $2 mil under pillow

By NICOLE LAPORTE, GABRIEL SNYDER

In a deal worth just under $2 million, 20th Century Fox has picked up "The Tooth Fairy," a pitch by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, based on a concept by Jim Piddock.

Jason Blum is producing the family comedy based on the childhood character, with Piddock exec producing. Other details of the pitch are being kept under wraps.

Piddock wrote a 17-page treatment of the story. But when Ganz and Mandel showed interest, he said he was more than happy to turn the writing duties over to them.

"Once we got to the writing phase, it would be presumptuous to not let them go off and write it," he said.

In their long writing partnership, Ganz and Mandel's credits include recent Fox pics "Fever Pitch" and "Robots," as well as "Parenthood" and "Splash."

Piddock was a writer on "The Man" for New Line, as well as on forthcoming indie family pic "Russell" with co-scribe Simon Kelton.

Blum producing credits include the upcoming "Griffin and Phoenix" and "The Darwin Awards."