My Little Pony has proved that friendship is magic, but now Hasbro is ready to see if the property can perform some box-office wizardry. Variety reports that Hasbro Studios' in-house Allspark Productions will completely finance and produce the animated film scheduled to hit theaters sometime in 2017.

A popular toy line and cartoon in the 1980s, the property was resurrected in 2010 as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by Lauren Faust for The Hub, and has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon, drawing in kids and adults of both sexes.

Friendship is Magic producer and writer Megan McCarthy is co-executive producing the project written by Joe Ballarini, who penned the high-school zombie jamboree Dance of the Dead as well as the upcoming supernatural adventure film Atlantis 7.

“We will continue to make big tentpole movies with our studio partners,” Stephen Davis, president of Hasbro Studios, said in a statement, “but there is another set of movies where we feel we have an opportunity to have a bit more control over the budgeting, financing, calendarization, marketing and creative of our films. There are new economic models that fit certain films.”

Allspark also co-produced Jem and the Holograms, which just announced an Oct. 23, 2015, release date.