We Bought a Zoo is an upcoming comedy-drama film directed by Cameron Crowe starring Matt Damon, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Scarlett Johansson, Desi Lydic, Patrick Fugit, and Elle Fanning. The film is based on a memoir by Benjamin Mee about how the author and his family used their life savings to buy Dartmoor Zoological Park, a dilapidated zoo, replete with 200 exotic animals facing destruction, in the English countryside. It is set for release on December 23, 2011.[1] A father moves his family to the countryside to own and operate a zoo.