Viral Video 'What Does the Fox Say' to Become Children's Book
The ridiculous viral video "The Fox" is set to become a children's book, available for Christmas.
"We felt that the idea 'What does the fox say?' was a good idea for a children's book, no matter what we turned it into as a video," Bard Ylvisake, one of the two brothers in the Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis, told EuroNews. The book, titled What Does the Fox Say?, is set to release on Dec. 10.
Bard also mentioned merchandise related to the video, which he and his brother planned before "The Fox" became a big hit, soaring to over 200 million views on YouTube.
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For publishing, Ylvis scored a book deal with Simon & Schuster this month, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I cannot tell you how many times I've watched Ylvis' hilarious, mesmerizing, unforgettable 'The Fox,'" Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing President Jon Anderson said in a statement.
"The lyrics and playfulness of the song lend themselves perfectly to the picture book format, and I'm ecstatic that Simon & Schuster is publishing Bard and Vegard's first book," Anderson added.
While the brothers did not conclusively announce it, money may be a reason behind the new book. "The strange thing about it is that people, especially back in Norway, now expect us to be billionaires because of this, the way people got back in the good old days when they sold records," Vegard told Euro News. "But the fact is that we have meetings every week now to sort of sit down, look at the whole picture and ensure ourselves that we don't lose money on this project."
Ylvis has produced many parody videos that have performed well on YouTube. "Stonehenge," a video released four days after "The Fox" and nearly as ridiculous and hilarious, has garnered upwards of 13 million views. It presents a famous TV anchor who has everything a man could want – a lovely wife, great kids, a high-power job – but spends his every waking minute wondering about the meaning of Stonehenge.
Their other videos include "The Cabin" and "Massachusetts." In "The Cabin," published Sept. 19 with over 2 million views, a man invites a woman to his cabin in the woods, so secluded from the city that no road approaches it. "Sixty meters of heaven on earth/a tiny wooden paradise/it's my own private pinewood Taj Mahal/except for the size." In "Massachusetts," the brothers celebrate "the 14th biggest state/just four hours from New York." Published Oct. 22, "Massachusetts" has received over 5 million views.
The satiric comedic duo began in October 2000, at the Ole Bull Theater in Norway, according to the Ylvis website. They made the switch to TV in 2007, and joined the Norwegan network TVNorge in 2011. In 2012, Bard and Vegard established their own production company, Concorde TV, which continues to produce videos for the station.
"The Fox" has become the highest-ranked song by a Norwegian artist since A-ha's single "Take on Me." It has been called "the Norwegian Gangnam Style."
