Trades are reporting that frequent Tim Burton collaborator John August is set to write FRANKENWEENIE for Disney after penning graphic novel adaptation PREACHER for director Sam Mendes at Columbia.
August is currently writing DARK SHADOWS for Warner Bros., per VARIETY. PREACHER ran as a graphic novel series by Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon from 1995 to 2000 from Vertigo and got four Eisner Awards. The story follows a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity born from an angel and a demon. He preacher travels cross-country with an ex-girlfriend and an alcoholic Irish vampire to find God, who has abandoned his duties in heaven.
Neal Mortiz at Sony is producing through his Original Films banner along with Kickstart Productions' Jason Netter. Ken Levin and Ori Marmur will exec. produce.
FRANKENWEENIE is based on a horror comic short that Burton made as a film school student in 1984, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, about a man who brings his dog back to life after it is killed by a car.
Originally a live-action project, the full-length FRANKENWEENIE will be made using stop-motion animation and will be filmed in 3-D but be in black and white like the original.
Disney is aiming for a 2011 release, and Burton is producing. Much of the crew and animation team from CORPSE BRIDE will be involved.
Burton and August have collaborated on four films prior to FRANKENWEENIE: BIG FISH, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and CORPSE BRIDE and have DARK SHADOWS set up at WB with Johnny Depp attached.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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