It looks like Bone is back on!
A Bone movie has been on the table as far back as the late 1990s. Jeff Smith's lauded blend of the cartoony and the epics of high fantasy got picked up by Warner Bros. in 2008, Animal Logic was set to do the animation for the adaptation. It went through a few writers over the years, even a director was attached at one point, but it never came to fruition.
It seemed like a no-brainer, for the series was family-friendly, and blended humor and adventure. I'll admit that I've barely read Bone, but from what I've seen of it over the years, I can't get enough of its style. In some ways, it has influenced some of my own work. While I'd prefer a traditionally animated film that really works off of the graphic novel's aesthetic, I'm glad it's happening.
Now, Warner Animation Group has tapped Mark Osborne - director of Kung Fu Panda and The Little Prince - to helm the long-gestating adaptation. Holy wow if this isn't a great choice, I don't know what is!
Osborne will be co-writing the script with Adam Kline. Mr. Kline is supposed to write the Artemis Fowl movie, if Disney ever gets around to approving it. I figured Bone would eventually be on Warner Animation Group's docket, and they intend to launch a franchise with it. I'd say one was long overdue, and it would be a nice break from the familiar Hanna-Barbera and Lego franchises that the group is going to expand in the future.
Animal Logic sounds right for this kind of picture, as they did tackle a similarly big, high fantasy story, The Owls of Ga'Hoole. That was based on a series of books, sadly that one came and went. Regardless of whether how good or bad it was, it was at least something that was a wee bit different. Happy Feet, issues notwithstanding, was also a little different and certainly stood out in a basket of mostly generic fluff. 2006, young'uns, was really not a good year in feature animation. It also helps that Happy Feet was a George Miller film, and even though the released film is very much a watered down version of what Miller had in mind, watered down George Miller is still George Miller.
Fun fact, at one point he wanted Mad Max: Fury Road to be a computer animated film. Now that would've been something! I wonder if he'd reconsider that for a future installment, because more are supposed to come.
Anyways, I think this is fantastic news all around. What say you?
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