Big Screen Adaptation Of Jeff Smith's BONE Lands A Writer And Director

There is a Boy in my home who will be very, very happy that this film is moving forward.

Jeff Smith's Bone is one of the most popular series of kid friendly graphic novels on the market so it is no surprise that there has been interest in creating a film version for some time now. Warner Brothers bought the rights in 2008 but things have been generally quiet on the development front since. But not any more.

Director PJ Hogan is attached to direct the animated feature, something of an odd choice given his past resume (Muriel's Wedding, My Best Friend's Wedding, Confessions Of A Shopaholic) and The Hollywood Reporter now brings word that Greek creator Patrick Sean Smith has been brought on to write the script. Animation house Animal Logic (Legend Of The Guardians, Happy Feet) are handling the animation.

For those unfamiliar with the story, Wikipedia describes it like this:

The series centers around the Bone cousins, white, bald cartoon caricatures. In the opening pages of Bone: Out from Boneville the three Bone cousins--avaricious Phoncible P. "Phoney" Bone, goofy cigar-smoking Smiley Bone, and everyman character Fone Bone--are run out of their hometown of Boneville after Phoney decides to run for mayor and built a balloon on top the head of a statue of Boneville's founder. A strong wind made the balloon break the head off of the statue and all the townspeople ran Phoncible, Smiley, and Fone out of town. After crossing a desert, the cousins are separated by a sea of locusts and individually ending up in the mysterious Valley and must make their way across the fantasy landscape pursued by rat creatures. They joyously reunite at a local village called Barrelhaven, where they are taken in by a mysterious girl named Thorn and her even more enigmatic grandmother. Fone Bone instantly develops a crush on Thorn when he meets her, and repeatedly attempts to prove his love through poetry. As they stay longer in the valley, they encounter humans and other creatures who are threatened by a dark entity, the Lord of the Locusts. The Bones are quickly drawn into the events around them, compelling them on a hero's journey to help save the world.