Melissa McCarthy is our new Tinker Bell and we couldn’t be more excited!

It’s still in the early stages, but there are the rumblings of what’s sure to be an AWESOME new movie and we couldn’t be more excited. Just this week it was announced that FOX bought the rights to a live-action comedy-adventure Tinker Bell movie, and who will be playing that sass-factory fairy? None other than our forever fave Melissa McCarthy.

Here’s what we know: McCarthy will be playing the empowered (but hot tempered) fairy heroine, and the movie is expected to be a fresh take on the classic character. McCarthy is teaming with director Shawn Levy whose film This is Where I Leave You met critical praise earlier this year, and who has also directed knee-slappers like The Night at the Museum movies, The Internship and Date Night. Nicholas Stoller — who wrote Get Him to the Greek, The Muppets, The Five-Year Engagement — is writing the screenplay. We’re deeply intrigued and this sounds like it’s going to be F-U-N-N-Y.

Tinker Bell is known for her sassy attitude and independent nature, and her character has been immortalized in several animated movies, but probably most famously via the 1953 Disney version.

News of this Tinker Bell project breaks just weeks before the premiere of the live-stage presentation of Peter Pan on NBC. America has Peter Pan on the brain. There have also been past conversations about a Tinker Bell movie tied to Elizabeth Banks, but it looks like McCarthy and co. beat her to the fairy dust.

For all those thinking that McCarthy as Tinker Bell is head-scratchy casting we beg to differ. McCarthy is hilarious, capable of playing characters as diverse as Sookie on Gilmore Girls and Megan in Bridesmaids. She’s going to bring a whole new element of hilarity to the Tinker Bell role, and we can. not. wait. If clapping your hands is what helps Tink to fly in the Peter Pan movie, we’re applauding for Melissa today. And sprinkling all the celebratory fairy dust we can find.

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