Neil Gaiman's 'The Graveyard Book' - Ron Howard Directing for Walt Disney Pictures

[Walts Ghost]

Ron Howard in Talks to Direct Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Graveyard Book’ For Disney

Neil Gaiman‘s best-selling YA novel The Graveyard Book, a ghoulish play on The Jungle Book, has been in development heck for a little while. It was announced as a stop-motion Disney project directed by Henry Selick (Coraline) in early 2012, but that version was put on hold when Selick and Disney parted ways late last year.

Now the project is back in action, and remains at Disney. But a couple big things have changed. One is that Ron Howard is in talks to step in to direct. The other is that his version will be a live-action film.

THR reports that Howard will oversee the creation of a new script, but we don’t know who’ll write. (Akiva Goldsman would be an obvious assumption, but since he’s busy making Winter’s Tale, it will likely go to someone else.)

Here’s the description of Gaiman’s novel:

Source

[Monterey Jack]

Dammit, I was really looking forward to another Henry Selick/Neil Gaiman collaboration.

[stvn1974]

The only thing that can kill the excitement of "Neil Gaimen's" is "Ron Howard Directing" for me.

[X12Celtics3]

I hadn't heard about Selick parting ways with Disney... so does that mean that his stop motion studio never even got started up? I suppose that would explain the fact that I've never heard anything about it since it's announcement, but I had been hoping I'd get some good news eventually.

[spawningblue]

Originally Posted by X12Celtics3

I hadn't heard about Selick parting ways with Disney... so does that mean that his stop motion studio never even got started up? I suppose that would explain the fact that I've never heard anything about it since it's announcement, but I had been hoping I'd get some good news eventually.

I read this a few weeks back on Box Office Mojo's Winners and Losers of 2012. Unfortunately Stop Motion Animation was in the Losers category.

"Stop-Motion Animation: While computer animation did great in 2012, stop-motion animation had such a bad year that it's going to be tough for any future projects to get green-lit.

After three years without a single release, the sub-genre had three high-profile entries in 2012, and all of them underperformed against modest comparable titles. ParaNorman, the best of the bunch, grossed just $56 million, or noticeably less than Coraline's $75.3 million. Frankenweenie was even worse with $34.7 million, or just 65 percent of what director Tim Burton's Corpse Bride earned in 2005 ($53.4 million). Finally, The Pirates! Band of Misfits set a new low for Aardman Animation with a paltry $31.1 million.

The genre performed so poorly this year that Disney decided put the kibosh on a Henry Selick stop-motion animated movie that they had already sunk tons of cash in to (around $50 million, according to some reports). Looking ahead, there is only one stop-motion project currently on the calendar (a new entry from LAIKA, the company behind Coraline/ParaNorman), and it won't reach theaters until September 2014."

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3601&p=.htm

[spawningblue]

Reading more it seems that Henry Selick had two stop motion flicks in production at Disney, the unnamed original movie that was canned, and this one that was only in pre-production stages. Selick was allowed to shop the unnamed project around where he brought it to Laika pictures, the makers of Coraline and Paranorman, but they turned it down instead doing another project on their own. Since Disney is now replacing Selick on this project it doesn't sound good for his unnamed project or for him.

Extremely disappointing as he is the Director of my two favourite stop motion projects Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline. Kind of sad when someone as talented as he is can't find work. I'm never really been a fan of any of these CGI movies, Pixar included, so this is a huge shame to me to see that there is no interest in stop motion movies. To me they are much more interesting visually and storytelling wise.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by spawningblue

After three years without a single release, the sub-genre had three high-profile entries in 2012, and all of them underperformed against modest comparable titles. ParaNorman, the best of the bunch, grossed just $56 million, or noticeably less than Coraline's $75.3 million. Frankenweenie was even worse with $34.7 million, or just 65 percent of what director Tim Burton's Corpse Bride earned in 2005 ($53.4 million). Finally, The Pirates! Band of Misfits set a new low for Aardman Animation with a paltry $31.1 million.

Studios--who still haven't been able to tell an Aardman from a Dreamworks when they see one ever since Flushed Away--deliberately dispatched it into US theaters as "cannon fodder" one week before The Avengers; Paranorman was too sitcom for its Coraline pedigree but got by on August-doldrums family business, and Frankenweenie?...I'm guessing Tim Burton now permanently has a big silver fork stuck in his chest after Dark Shadows. Two in one year was NOT a good idea.

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Studios--who still haven't been able to tell an Aardman from a Dreamworks when they see one ever since Flushed Away--deliberately dispatched it into US theaters as "cannon fodder" one week before The Avengers; Paranorman was too sitcom for its Coraline pedigree but got by on August-doldrums family business, and Frankenweenie?...I'm guessing Tim Burton now permanently has a big silver fork stuck in his chest after Dark Shadows. Two in one year was NOT a good idea.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't Frankenweenie get rave reviews from both critics and audiences? I thought it was hailed as Burton's long-awaited return to form.

[bluballer]

Can Tim Burton direct this one?

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by bluballer

Can Tim Burton direct this one?

Simple answer: no. I like Burton's style and most of his films, but I think that someone else needs to start venturing into these Gothic projects and take the heat from him a bit. Ron Howard might not be the best choice for this, but I'll be damned if Apollo 13 isn't one of the best pieces of cinema I've ever seen, and his understanding of emotion and heart is just right.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't Frankenweenie get rave reviews from both critics and audiences? I thought it was hailed as Burton's long-awaited return to form.

That means d!ck to studio bean-counters. Alice In Wonderland got mediocre reviews, and made a billion dollars worldwide, and yet Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie combined made barely a fifth of that. I was moderately amused by DS and thought Frankenweenie was Burton's best since Sweeney Todd, but in this business, you're only as good as your last picture's box office take.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't Frankenweenie get rave reviews from both critics and audiences? I thought it was hailed as Burton's long-awaited return to form.

Yes, and it opened fifth place, right behind Pitch Perfect and Looper. (And that's final Monday numbers, not the deceptive Friday ones.)
If we're talking about persuasive arguments in favor of Nightmare-esque stop-motion, that ain't altogether good. It received rave reviews from the people who actually bothered themselves to leave the house and pay ten dollars to buy a ticket to the latest Tim Burton film, when they could be home raking the leaves.

Blame Hotel Transylvania all you want for "stealing" the Halloween-matinee business that year, but as name value goes, that ain't good.

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

That means d!ck to studio bean-counters. Alice In Wonderland got mediocre reviews, and made a billion dollars worldwide, and yet Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie combined made barely a fifth of that.

(Although some might consider that Cause-and-Effect. )

[spawningblue]

I liked Frankenweenie quite a bit, but Dark Shadows was just terrible, possibly the worst movie I saw this year. Unfortunately kids just don't care about stop motion these days, especially one shot in black and white. And adults didn't really show up as Tim Burton hasn't been making films for them for a while.

[SleazyForWeasley]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

The only thing that can kill the excitement of "Neil Gaimen's" is "Ron Howard Directing" for me.

Agreed. Although "Starring Bryce Dallas Howard" would be worse.