Now that director Kevin Lima (TARZAN and 102 DALMATIANS) has been signed to helm Fox's live-action/animated CAT AND MOUSE next year, the search is on to see who will perform the 2D animation for the opening 10 minutes of the comedy. According to a spokesman, the production team is meeting with animators and studios in L.A., New York and Canada. But it has not been determined whether an animation director and crew or a one-stop shop will be hired.
The very hot property (originally scripted by Neil Tolkin as RUPERT AND MURDOCH) was picked up by Fox in turnaround a few years ago and has since been rewritten by Karey Kirkpatrick (CHICKEN RUN). Under the new title, CAT AND MOUSE, the movie concerns a cartoon mouse from a popular TV series that is transported into the real world as a human. His feline rival, who is at first delighted to have the spotlight all to himself, eventually misses the partnership, so he follows the mouse and tries to bring him back to the toon world.
The animated cat and mouse will be envisioned as a cross between TOM AND JERRY and ITCHY AND SCRATCHY. Andy Licht and Jeff Mueller serve as producers, with Howard Rosenman and Brad Grey serving as exec producers.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
