This is one of the more bizarre stories I've posted in my time here: Orson Welles, who died in 1985, will be in a new movie.  Well, his voice will be in the movie, but it's still bizarre how it came about.  THR reports that "lost tapes" of Welles narrating a book called Christmas Tails have been uncovered and that Drac Studios will now use them as basis for a movie.  The tapes are a result of Welles narrating the book for his friend Robert X. Leed.  Leed, in speaking with Drac Studios president Harvey Lowry, remembered he had the tapes, shared them with Lowry, and Lowry started brainstorming ideas for a picture.

Christmas Tails is about Santa's dog saving Christmas by gathering other canines in the North after the Reindeer fall ill.  Welles' voice will be interspersed throughout and part of the movie will be about uncovering the tapes.  Matt Thompson wrote the script based on Leed's book and Todd Tucker, who directed the upcoming Monster Mutt which Lowry produced, will helm the project.

The plan is to use a mix of live-action and CG with Drac, who are best known as a special effects and makeup shop for movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, will create the dogs and the North Pole using computer graphics.  The plan is to shoot the live action in the summer or fall for a Christmas 2011 release in 3D.   THR says the incorporation of Welles' narration will be like Peter Lorre's in 1966's animated The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.