Now in pre-production, a CG-animated adaptation of THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ will be directed by John Boorman, per VARIETY.
The $25 million film will be adapted from L. Frank Baum's original novel and will be Boorman's first animated film. Laurent Rodon and Claude Gorvsky at France's Films Actions are producing with Boorman's longtime associate Kieran Corrigan. OZ was written by Boorman, Ron Mita and Jim McClain (ROBOTS) and should come out in summer 2010.
It will not be a musical, but will maintain the main characters and settings and will be voiced by English-speaking actors. Another French 3-D animated feature, A MONSTER IN PARIS, just suspended production apparently because of financial concerns.
Action Synthese is in the midst of selling its other CG animated film DOUGAL, THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT 2 made for $10 million and targeting children ages 3-8.
