Back in August, we reported the sad news that Disney had canceled production on the untitled next film from Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas).  There were no details on the film, but Selick also tried bringing it to his Coraline partner Laika, but those talks went nowhere.  Furthermore, his stop-motion adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s The Graveyard Book has now moved to being a live-action adaptation with Ron Howard in talks to direct.  Leaving Henry Selick in limbo is good for no one, and so I’m happy to report that his untitled feature has a name and is alive once more.

Hit the jump for details on Henry Selick’s The Shadow King.

Fresh off the success of Coraline, director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) signed a deal with Disney to make stop-motion animated films for the Mouse House.  He was set to adapt Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book in the long-term, but his first Disney stop-motion feature was scheduled for release in October 2013.  All appeared to be going well until this past August, when the studio decided the project was moving too slowly (and reportedly too dark), so they abruptly cancelled production.

Selick was free to shop the project around to other studios to see if he could get it made elsewhere, and now it looks like he may have found a new home for the film.  Hit the jump for more. [Update: Sadly, Oregon Live reports that a source close to LAIKA tells them the talks with Selick went nowhere and the studio won't be financing this project after all].

In 2010, Coraline writer/director Henry Selick signed a long-term deal to make stop-motion movies for Disney.  Soon after, they scheduled Selick’s first Disney movie for October 2013 acquired Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book for Selick to adapt.  Back up one second, though: Disney has decided to stop production on the untitled 2013 project.  Sources tell Variety, “From a creative and scheduling standpoint, the pic wasn’t where it needed to be to meet its planned release date and the studio decided not to continue production as a result.”  That is unfortunate, but thankfully Disney is expected to continue developing the Graveyard Book adaptation with Selick.  Selick is now able to shop the untitled project around to other studios.  There is no voice cast set, and no artwork was ever released publicly, so the transition to a new studio should be smooth if Selick can drum up interest elsewhere.

Disney has proffered a deal that will reunite author Neil Gaiman and director Henry Selick (Coraline) to bring The Graveyard Book to life.  The best-selling children’s title drew attention from every major studio but Disney ultimately won out on the adaptation rights with a high six-figure bid.  The Newbury Award-winning The Graveyard Book is a one-off take on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book which replaces the boy raised by wolves with a young orphan raised by ghosts in a graveyard.   Those familiar with Gaiman’s other works (The Sandman comics, Stardust, American Gods) and, equally, those who were fans of Coraline will be happy to hear that The Graveyard Book is a high priority for Disney.  Hit the jump for more.

Disney is laying claim to release dates in 2014 but for what?  Box Office Mojo reports that the studio has set “Marvel Untitled 1″ for May 16, 2014 and “Marvel Untitled 2″ for June 27, 2014.  I could conjecture which movies will fill those dates, but I willing to bet that Marvel doesn’t know either at this point.  Maybe a Captain America sequel or maybe The Avengers 2, but keep in mind that Marvel also has spinoffs in the works for Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie, plus there are smaller movies (Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange) that could fill those slots.  Marvel already has their summer 2013 slate with Iron Man 3 due out May 3, 2013 and Thor 2 hitting on July 26, 2013.

Hit the jump for release dates for an untitled films from Pixar and director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas).

Director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Oscar-nominated Coraline) has signed an exclusive long-term deal with Disney to create stop-motion animated films for the studio.  Variety reports that Selick plans to move to the Bay Area and plans to write and direct films based on original ideas and literary properties.

The signing of Selick is yet another example of how Pixar and Disney Animation Studios head John Lasseter is bringing back all animation to the studio.  Last year, The Princess and the Frog marked the first 2D animated musical for Disney since 2004′s Home on the Range.  Selick made his directing debut for Disney back in 1993 with Nightmare and Coraline grossed $75 million.  That film, plus Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mary & Max, and A Town Called Panic, shows there’s definitely interest for stop-motion animation.  I personally love the medium and Selick is one of its kings.

It’s wonderful news that Lasseter (who developed a friendship with Selick back in their days at the California Institute for the Arts) has given Selick the creative freedom to bring us more great movies.

Kung Fu Panda may have knocked out Wall-E at last year’s Annie Awards, but Pixar got its revenge Saturday night with Up taking the top two awards, for Best Animated Feature and Directing in a Feature Production for Pete Docter.

However, Henry Selick’s Coraline and Disney’s The Princess and The Frog (both of which this writer liked more than Up – hate if you must) topped Up‘s total, taking home three Annies each. And the most deserved award of all? In my opinion it’s certainly Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach for Writing in a Feature Production for the wildly witty Fantastic Mr. Fox.

And Up, of course, is up for an impressive two-fer when the Oscars are handed out March 7, being nominated for both Best Picture and Best Animated Picture (only the second animated movie to score a Best Picture nod, after Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.) There’s always a chance the two could cancel each other out, but I wouldn’t bet against Pixar in at least the animated category.  Hit the jump to see a full list of winners at the Annie Awards.

A few days ago I sat down with director Henry Selick (“Coraline”, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “James and the Giant Peach”) for a very extensive interview.  While I spoke to him earlier this year before “Coraline” got released, with Focus Features trying to get “Coraline” nominated for Best Animated Feature (it absolutely deserves a nomination!) Selick has been talking to journalists and I was lucky enough to land a spot.  While we touched on “Coraline”, most of the interview covered other subjects.  Since most of you might not have the time to watch the entire interview, here are some highlights.  But if you’re a fan of Henry Selick, you definitely want to watch the interview after the jump as it was great.

• Says his next project might be another collaboration with Gaiman. If it’s not the next one, it’s the project after the next one.  Says there are some issues to deal with before production could start.
• I ask what might be his next project if it’s not with Gaiman. Says he wrote an original treatment years ago (it’s 84 pages) and that might be the next project. Says it’s tonally another scary film for kids.  Calls it a cousin of Coraline.
• In the next two weeks a lot is going to be known about his next project.  He is working out a deal with a studio right now. Says he is unsure if they will announce one project or 3 or 4 projects as a lot is coming together right now
• Talks about why he left Laika Studios
• Reveals he was going to work with Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr. Fox but when financing came in for Coraline, he had to drop out.  Says when they worked together on The Life Aquatic they talked about it.
• Wants to do a midnight re-release of Coraline and call it “Coraline Unfixed”. In this edition you wouldn’t see any of the digital fixes.  He explains what the edition would entail in the interview. It sounds awesome.
• They have spoken to him about the James and the Giant Peach Blu-ray
• Talks about a sequence that was never used in Nightmare Before Christmas and how it’s gone and may never be seen. It’s a head credit sequence that was animated candy corn.
• Wants to remaster all his short films and his MTV work and release it on DVD/Blu-ray.  Says all the elements have been assembled and he just has to find the time to do it.

Again, if you’re a fan, you definitely want to watch this interview:

Talk about a major free agent.  Henry Selick, the acclaimed director of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is leaving Laika, the studio behind his latest success, “Coraline.”  The move is surprising since Selick’s work had almost singlehandedly built up Laika’s reputation as a premier producer of animation.  Selick arrived in 2004, right as Nike executive Phil Knight acquired Will Vinton studios and immediately began to turn around the studios fortunes.  2005 saw the award-winning short “Moongirl” and again this past year saw the critical and commercial success of “Coraline.”  To find out why Selick is moving on, frame by frame, hit the jump.

We’re at a point where CGI, where computers in general are taking over cinema. It’s a quick fix for a lot of problems. Want to change the sky, want to have kites flying, want to have a hummingbird or flies do exactly what you want? Get a computer and add it that way. Alas, what happens is that the ability to invest in the story is somewhat compromised if the seams are visible in ways that weren’t as troubling when the seams were literally visible. Being able to deny the reality of what is presented makes everything palatable. There is no danger, no truth.

My review of Coraline after the jump.

I got the chance to speak with the man single-handedly keeping stop motion not only alive, but viable. Henry Selick gives his thoughts on the state of stop motion, “Coraline”, as well as working with Neil Gaiman again. He also says he’s going to pick his next project soon and it’ll be another stop motion project! Read the interview after the jump –