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[Diabolical]

New ‘Bone’ Script in the Works, Three-Film 3D CGI Series Still Likely

Posted on Wednesday, July 20th, 2011 by Russ Fischer

There is no shortage of terrible comic books that have been the beneficiaries of movie development deals that move along at a brisk pace. Throw a rock in Hollywood and you’re likely to hit a half-dozen examples of poorly drawn, hackneyed crap with great development deals, or good pieces of material with terrible deals. (When you do throw that rock, if I may once again borrow from Barton Fink, throw it hard.) But every once in a while one of the really great pieces of material ends up under the watchful eye of someone who keeps it from falling into the polluted hot tub where Green Lantern, Elektra and Judge Dredd are lounging like hairy swingers with eager eyes and very loose definitions of ‘disease free.’

Such is the case with Jeff Smith‘s Bone, a really tremendous piece of comic storytelling that tells a tale of prophecy, a princess, a dragon and three cousins lost in a strange land. The title has been in development hell for many years; a few bad scripts have come and, thankfully, gone. Jeff Smith now seems to be optimistic about the future, as Warner Bros. has a new draft in the works and just put together a four-minute short that wowed him.

The LA Times talked to the writer/artist/publisher, who said he’s “actually excited” after seeing the four-minute piece, which is the first hint of a trilogy of CGI 3D films.

Fone Bone was falling in the water and going through cliffs and canyons. The dragon moved in from off camera in the shadows with smoke around him, all in 3-D. It was pretty mind-blowing.

So there is footage! That’s exciting. (There has probably been footage in the past, so I’ll rephrase: “there is footage Jeff Smith likes!”)

Warner Bros. has had the title for some time, and that three-film plan was first heard of in late 2009. If that seems like a long development process, keep in mind that the film was with Nickelodeon and Paramount for some time before that — it has taken a while to crack. Jeff Smith says that a feature-length first film is still easily two years off. As long as it properly represents the story, I’m willing to wait.

His newer series, the more adult-oriented RASL, now eleven issues into a fifteen-issue run, tells of a guy who is able to ‘drift’ into parallel universes and runs into trouble when the government wants his technology. That one has a film development deal, too, and having just blasted through the existing eleven issues I’ll admit that it seems like a much easier task to adapt than Bone. Warner Bros. and one of the Sherlock Holmes producers, Lionel Wigram, are overseeing that one, too. There is no significant new development to report on that front — or there isn’t now. Jeff Smith has a few appearances set for Comic Con, so we may get some news before the week is out.

slashfilm.com

[jjreason]

Exciting news, but it seems like it's a ways off in the distance.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Showing the footage would generate enough positive fan response that WarnerBros would be less hesitant to move forward. I'm sure some incompetent douche junior executive over there saw the weak returns for Green Lantern and immediately assumed "all comic book properties will yield shitty films!" and scrambled to backburner this in order to save his job.

[jjreason]

I honestly wouldn't give a shit if it WAS the worst grossing film ever made OR if they kinda did it on the cheap (voices-wise, NOT animation-wise). As long as this gets made & it truly pleases Jeff Smith, I will be there and I will buy the t-shirt & blu-ray disc.

[Diabolical]

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out where the first two films will end.

There aren't many easy or logical points to end the first two films without being sudden stops. And I'd imagine they'd want to keep the first film as a stand-alone story...just in case.

[jjreason]

Well that's just it - as a stand alone, the first one would just get us to the point of realizing this is not a comedy, even though the characters are funny. I would much prefer a "film it all at once & release them 1 year apart" type deal. I also think 2 medium sized movies (2hrs each let's say) could get it done nicely.

[Snigtad Flornbi]

SAW THIS ON T V 2NITE, IT WAS FUCKIN GAY. WHEN THAT GAY BEEST SINT HER HOME 2 HER DAD + GASSTONE CAME 2 KILL HIM THAT WAS STUPID.

[jjreason]

My desire to hit you with something like a brick keeps growing, Snigtad. You are so fucking stupid it makes my teeth hurt.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I read the first 20 issues or so. I desperately want the single volume collection.

And how cool would it be as a Live Action/Animated film? Think about it.

Animated Bones, Animatronic/CGI dragons and Stupid Stupid Rat Creatures, and the delicious Kiera Knightly playing Thorn...

I'm buying my ticket now.

The late EP's wish gets one step closer to becoming a reality. Too bad he won't be around to see it.