THE GRAVEYARD BOOK: Henry Selick directing Neil Gaiman Adaptation

Henry Selick is directing The Graveyard Book. The film adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s The Graveyard Book will be directed by Henry Selick, who previously directed another of Henry Selick’s books, Coraline. The Graveyard Book adaptation will be made by Walt Disney Pictures.

On the The Graveyard Book:

The book, which won the Newbery Medal among other awards, is a riff on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Instead of a boy raised by wolves in the jungle, Gaiman tells the story of the surviving child of a murdered family raised by ghosts in a graveyard.

On the movie studio competition for the book:

The book attracted attention at every studio upon release, and it was optioned for a large fee by UK Effects House Framestore, along with Wayfare’s Ben Browning. They had Neil Jordan attached to direct, but never got it off the ground, even though they kept renewing the option. Disney production chief Sean Bailey stepped in, and won the title in a competitive bidding situation with other studios.

The people currently behind the film include Gil Netter, who

is producing with Browning, with Wayfare’s Michael Maher exec producing. The project is a priority for the studio and a potential coup for Bailey.

The story about a child raised in a graveyard by ghosts sounds twisted and very interesting.

Source: Deadline