‘Little Prince’ director developing a trilogy of animated features based on the Eisner-winning comic series from Jeff Smith.
Mark Osborne has been tapped to direct the Warner Bros. adaptation of Bone, the Eisner-winning comic series from Jeff Smith.
According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, Osborne -- the director of the adaptation of The Little Prince for Paramount and Netflix -- is developing the project alongside screenplay co-writer Adam Kline. There are reportedly plans in place for a trilogy of animated feature films, to be produced by Lin Pictures and Animal Logic’s Zareh Nalbandian. Osborne, who also directed DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, will serve as an executive producer together with Lin Pictures’ Mark Bauch.
Bone tells the story of the Bone cousins -- Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone -- three odd little creatures who are chased out of their hometown of Boneville and end up in a mysterious valley full of strange people and monsters. What begins as a charming, slapstick-driven romp slowly transforms into a high-stake fantasy epic with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
The Bone comics were first published from 1991 to 2004 and then rediscovered by a new and more mainstream generation when Scholastic began releasing them in graphic novel form. Warner Bros. first acquired the rights to the comic series in 2008, with P.J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) attached to direct and Patrick Sean Smith, the creator of the ABC series Greek, writing the script.
There’s no word yet on whether Bone creator Jeff Smith will be involved in the new animated trilogy, but Smith has been notoriously protective of his work in the past, and even prevented Nickelodeon from making a film in the late ‘90s after he disagreed with their take on the material.
Head over to THR to read the full story.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
