BONE to Warner Bros.
The news broke this week that Vijaya and I made a deal with Warner Bros. for the film rights to BONE. You can get the details at Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
The whole thing happened very quickly last Friday night. Warners called and made us a real offer, it was as simple as that. They stated their seriousness to stay true to the books, and after a couple of back and forths, the whole thing was over in an hour and a half. Vijaya and I had a celebratory drink and went to bed. We woke up Saturday morning to find the internet on fire!
There’s a lot of speculation about what the film will look like, but I honestly don’t know yet. I’m partial to 2D, but if something else looks freaking mind-blowing, I’m open to it.
Not much more to say at this point. We’re at the very beginning of the process, and anything can happen.
I have to admit, though, the idea of the Looney Tunes WB shield zooming out at the beginning of a BONE movie would be pretty cool. Fingers crossed!
Wow. Well, congratulations! I was super hyped when I first read about the movie back a bunch of years ago, so you can only imagine how excited I am for this! I have faith that as long as they keep you a part of it, that it will turn out amazing. Congrats again and I look forward to hearing more news from the set!!
Comment by Derek — March 13, 2008 @ 7:59 am
I’ve been waiting for this! your success is a real inspiration to budding artist like me.
Comment by ming — March 13, 2008 @ 8:02 am
and congradulations! I hope you decide to do more books…
Comment by ming — March 13, 2008 @ 8:03 am
Hah! Amazing!
A Bone movie, holy cow.
An hour and a half seems a little short though, maybe?
Well, hope turns out awesome! Congrats Jeff! Did they say how long it would take to animate? Or if its going to be a direct-to-dvd like The Justice League New Frontier?
Comment by Marcus — March 13, 2008 @ 8:10 am
I just want to congratulate you on this turn of events, and I hope they don’t take advantage of the deal. WB hasn’t been known for their Looney Tunes characters for years- I really hope they do justice to your story.
Comment by Andrew — March 13, 2008 @ 8:24 am
yo things books is mad hot ya digg my nigg!!!!! keep writing them or i will burn ur book ok sike just messing with u my homie
Comment by tysean — March 13, 2008 @ 8:28 am
That’s great – only problem is they’re bound to get the voices wrong. Hearing the Bones with American accents will be deeply confusing – as far as I am concerned, they all speak with Liverpool accents, like the Beatles (Smiley/Ringo Starr, Phoney/John Lennon) apart from Thorn, who speaks like Gwyneth Paltrow in a British movie… but of course all that’s just in my head…
Comment by Adam — March 13, 2008 @ 8:31 am
Hi Jeff, It´s a great new!. I love your comics!
Comment by J.aVi — March 13, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Since I read Bone two years ago, I have not stopped thinking about what a great movie it would be. I am really hoping it will be a CGI trilogy.
Comment by chris — March 13, 2008 @ 10:07 am
Good for you Jeff, I think Warner will treat the property right. They’ve done some wonderful things with the Harry Potter series and I think out of all the big houses, they have the best sense of translation save Marvel. I’d love to know who’s scoring it /producing the soundtrack. It’s interesting which part of a film translation is most important to other artists. Voice actors always want to know who’s in it, producers want to know who’s running it, graphic artists want to know who’s translating it and how and music nerds (me!) want to know what style of scoring will be used. Hehe.
Comment by Eric Nelson — March 13, 2008 @ 10:19 am
Wow, I can’t wait for this. Just outta curiosity, how much creative control do you have over the film? Did it end with the contract, or are they going to be consulting you as the movie moves though production? Also, is it a single or multiple film deal? I’d hate to have the entire storyline forced into one movie.
Comment by jopari — March 13, 2008 @ 10:27 am
Good news! I hope they stay true to the books, and I tend to agree with you on the 2D thing.
Say, is there an opening in Brad Bird’s schedule? Cause that would be beyond awesome.
Comment by Matt Algren — March 13, 2008 @ 10:28 am
I always thought it’d make a fantastic Disney movie, but a WB-made Bone film would be friggin’ sweet. Big congrats to you guys!
Comment by Andrew — March 13, 2008 @ 10:33 am
[...] Läs mer: Boneville, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter. [...]
Pingback by Piruett » Blog Archive » Warner Bros gör film av “Bone” — March 13, 2008 @ 10:55 am
Congrats Jeff.To me your work is very organic so I would vote for some hand drawn 2D or Stop Motion, but good quality CGI would be nice too. Very cool.
Comment by Brian — March 13, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
That’s so exciting! I’m partial to 2D as well. I think it would have a wonderful feel if it was really high-quality hand-drawn animation.
Comment by Ryan — March 13, 2008 @ 5:25 pm
The road to get here and the road still ahead…congrats on the journey to get this into film. Hope this all works out where the Nick deal fizzled.
And looking forward to more RASL. Waiting for each issue is going to be torture.
Comment by Derek — March 13, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
I’ve always pictured a Roger Rabbit type movie myself, but as long as it stays true to the comic, I’d go to the theatre and watch sock puppets. Congratulations on the deal!
Comment by Piper — March 13, 2008 @ 6:10 pm
Jeff,
I am so… proud of my cousin!!! Grandma would have been so… happy for you too. I only wish she could have heard the great news! You deserve the very best–your talent has finally been recognized in the movies! Congratulations to Vijaya too! We are ALL so happy for you!!!
From your family in CT
Comment by Gail — March 13, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
I can’t belive that you are finally making a movie I can’t wait until it comes out!!! You and are doing a good at making Bone into color. Oh! and this is from your other cousin and I am hoping the movie comes out GREAT!!!!!!!
Comment by Patrick — March 13, 2008 @ 9:16 pm
3d with live action! that’s my vote!
Comment by ming — March 13, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
That is amazing! good luck and I will of course see the movie my best friend and i love your books!
fondly,
Maya
Comment by Maya — March 14, 2008 @ 12:24 am
Congratulations on the film deal! I know everyone’s throwing their two cents in for how the movie should be made, but for my money I’d love to see it as a muppet film with the involvement of the Henson Company Creature Shop.
That being said, I’m sure I’ll take my daughter to see it regardless!
Comment by Indigo — March 14, 2008 @ 1:17 am
[...] 2D vs 3D [...]
Pingback by Núvols de glaç » Blog Archive » Bone al cinema — March 14, 2008 @ 7:59 am
Good luck with it . I hope it stays true to your books in both story/character AND the look of it , which is hand-drawn . A CG version could certainly , as you say , “look freaking mind-blowing” but it wouldn’t look like what you drew with pencils and ink in the books.
Also , Warner Bros. doesn’t have the best track record in handling animation (the dumping of “Iron Giant” , anyone remember how they botched that one , among others ?) . Hopefully they will give this move the treatment it deserves.
Comment by David — March 14, 2008 @ 11:59 am
Congrats, Jeff! That’s great news!
I know it’s not your call, but I really think you should toss Jared Emerson-Johnson’s name into the hat to do the score. He’s done a bang-up job with the music for Tell-Tale’s games and it’d just be beautiful to hear full orchestral versions of these themes. He’s really given the world a unique and fun and dark sound spectrum!
Comment by Will — March 14, 2008 @ 4:21 pm
congrats! I really hope they get the Bone cousins voices right! I wasnt fond of the ones from the videogame…
Comment by Keiichi-chan — March 14, 2008 @ 4:48 pm
Wow, this is great! hope everything goes well for this production, opens up a whole range of new things, the voices, how it looks.
Good luck Jeff!… Congrats
Comment by Evan — March 14, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
Oh my gosh!! No way!! Wow it’s about time and a long time coming. I thought it wasn’t going to happen at least not anytime soon!
I have been thoroughly impressed with WB lately, the JLA series both were awesome and I’ve been a long time fan of Batman the animated series. I can’t wait to see what they do with Bone! Super AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Oooh this is going to be great!!!
Comment by Jeanette — March 14, 2008 @ 6:43 pm
Oh, I sure hope it’s 2D! This and Gaiman’s Sandman are the only two projects I’ve always said I would maul someone to work on. Congrats and best of luck.
Comment by J. Garibaldi — March 15, 2008 @ 12:37 am
I am very happy to be able to see a film of Bone soon !
Comment by Rich — March 15, 2008 @ 8:51 am
A film of Bone! Wow. I showed my six-year-old daughter the big, collected Bone, and she’s on her third reading. She wants to type, and she says, “i love bone.” I hope it all goes well.
Comment by Peg. — March 15, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
Congradulations! I can’t wait! I really don’t know what the voices should sound like except Rock Jaw should definetly be Christofer Lee’s voice. Good luck!!!!!
Comment by Oscar — March 15, 2008 @ 12:59 pm
o my god!!!!:):) I CANT WAIT TIL THE MOVIE COMES OUT! I HOPE IT WORKS OUT 4 YA JEFF!!:):):) CONGRATS!!
LOVE THE BOOKS BY THE WAY !! READ THEM ALL EXCEPT THE 9TH AT LEAST 3 TIMES !!! LOVE YA
:)
Comment by Autumn — March 15, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
Lol the voices I thought of were kind of wacky.
Like Randy Savage for Lucius, he always struck me as a tough guy but also like calm sometimes.
And that guy who did the voice for the parrot in Aladdin for Phoney.
Comment by Marcus — March 15, 2008 @ 10:54 pm
That is so freaking cool. I would congratulate you, but I don’t want to jinx it. I think that if they made it very well in 2-D, that would be nothing short of righteous.
Comment by Nick — March 16, 2008 @ 12:06 am
I can’t wait!
I’ll be at the first showing on opening day, congrats all around!
Comment by Friend of Plato — March 16, 2008 @ 3:42 am
This is great. Out of nowhere, I decided to visit your page just to see if there were any news. Wow.
I was kind of hoping for a TV-series, but a movie is neat aswell.
But it is important, Mr. Smith, that you keep a close eye on the production team. Try to keep the product free from pop music and the like. I don’t think anyone here (including you
) want it dumbed down.
It would be nice if you could post something and explain what you mean with a “real offer”, too.
And I think some sort of 2D animation is the best thing to do. The Bones are to plain to look nice in 3D (only my opinion). Of course: A blend between 2D and computer animation would be sweet!
Best wishes.
Comment by Joacim S. — March 16, 2008 @ 10:05 am
I can’t wait until the movie comes out!!!! but i have an idea to the format of the movie: it would be cool to be like the Lord of the Rings with part animated characters and live-action.
Comment by Clarence — March 16, 2008 @ 10:56 am
I am so happy that the process to making the bone movie is being revisited.I hope warner brothers fallows through with the project.
Comment by jeremy brubacher — March 16, 2008 @ 3:30 pm
Congratulations!!!
Comment by tom studer — March 17, 2008 @ 11:51 am
Ummmm…
I dont really know just HOWW good they can make a bone movie..
Bone 1 is way too good to fit in a 90 minute film.
But who knows? It could be pretty well!
Maybe you should divide the movies with new intervals.
I just hope that WB doesnt screw up with it like it has with almost every other movie. (Stress the ALMOST)
Thom
Comment by Thom — March 17, 2008 @ 12:59 pm
Jeff Smith,
I think thats great news. I always hoped that ‘Bone’ would become a movie. I know it is going to be very popular.
Your #1 fan,
Kostas.
Comment by Kostas — March 17, 2008 @ 5:51 pm
Hm. Animation wise…
2-D would seem pretty cool.
Actually there are a few movies I’ve seen like, the Animated Iron man movie, justice league the new frontier, and those ultimate avengers movies.
Probably depends on whose doing the art. CGI backgrounds would be wicked.
Comment by Marcus — March 17, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
I’m so happy, I could die. This is exactly the kind of news I needed to get through finals week.
Comment by David — March 18, 2008 @ 2:34 pm
Wow, I remember years ago about midway through Bone’s run when there was a lot of commotion about the film rights being acquired by Nickelodeon. I remember being so excited, and I feel exactly the same way, like a child. I actually went to animation school in hopes of someday being able to work on a Bone movie.
If I can make a sincere recommendation – classical animation, all the way. Like the cartoons you grew up on, Jeff. Nothing could be more appropriate, and the storyboard is right there on paper from 13 years of work. Don’t let them change anything major, or add Britney Spears music, no matter how many millions they shove in your face (though we already know that won’t be a problem!)
Would love to see an animated, epic trilogy to do justice to all 3 acts. Keep us updated! Congratulations!
Comment by Sean — March 18, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
Three words, Jeff! TRIL-LO-GY.
I’m sure every Bone fan alive agrees with me
Comment by Alex — March 18, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
do me a favour and don’t let them change the plot too much k?
coz in my opinion they totally screwed up the harry potter movies through changing them too much ay
itd b great to c a movie that is truly faithful to the comics and captures the true essence of it all. the laugh-out-loud comedy moments in the earlier books along with the dark epic that blooms throughout the later ones
ps. great job on the album art for in defense of the genre by say anything. always great when 2 favourites join forces
Comment by Heath — March 19, 2008 @ 3:58 am
Too bad Variety chose not to be very accurate when describing the source material.
“In subsequent installments, the Bone cousins slay dragons…”
Wait! What?!?
Heh, all the same, I’m looking forward to this Jeff. I hope that it’s a smooth experience and that everyone does well. I look forward to watching this with my son one day soon.
Comment by Jeremy — March 19, 2008 @ 11:10 am
Hi there, I’m Kaije Armena, from Philippines. Age 15, Illustrator and writer!
Comment by Kaije Armena — March 20, 2008 @ 3:50 am
Wow, this is ridiculously awesome. I’m praying for 2D animation here, of course.
Comment by DaiKamonohashi — March 20, 2008 @ 9:36 am
I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Samuel Shaver — March 20, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
Wow that is awesome. I love these books to death and a movie series would be great. Stick to the story Warner Bros!
Comment by Tom — March 21, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
That’s totally wicked awesome that they are making a bone movie, but like I’ve read you should get the voices pretty accurate. I imagine that the BONES are old enough to live alone but not to old, so mabye getting a young british actor or a young american actor for Fone Bone. Mabye a 30 year old or such for Smiley and a angry 25-35 year old for Phoney (I always imagined him with a ray ramona kinda voice.). Plus you should get a young actress to do Thorns voice pretty easily, mabye Emma Roberts. But other than that I want to know if you are going to make just the first in one movie or the first and second or if your just going to do one movie of the first book or the series(Series would be so much better though, great fantasy movies.) Coll well I gotta go freak out at all my friends that this movie is coming out and party all night, then reread all the bone books. Ttyl.
Comment by Noah Throw — March 24, 2008 @ 8:56 pm
Yeah its me again. about 3 minutes later(I got kicked out because I was screaming about it too loud.) Just Wanted to say THIS IS SO AWESOME I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT. Plus I was thinking that you guys could stick to 2D animation, way better. Plus I was also wondering when it will come out. I had something else I was wondering but I can’t remember, I’ll probably remember at 10:00 tonight and post it when I’m bored. STILL TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!!!!
Comment by Noah Throw — March 24, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
Oh my Gosh this is awesome! Yeah I would stick with 2-D animation. The good thing is that they said they would stick to the book. I really wanna see what The Hooded One will look like in the movie. I’M TOTALLY FREAKING OUT TOO!!!!
Comment by Clark C. — March 24, 2008 @ 9:29 pm
Yeah I’m back and I need to say that if your going to animate the thing go with Blue Sky animation because they do inhuman things and fantasy characters best. Seriously I’M STILL TOTALLY FREAKING OUT AND HAVE TOLD PEOPLE I KNOW IN OREGON!!!!!!!!!!!!FREAKING OUT MAN FREAKING OUT!
Comment by Noah Throw — March 25, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
Dear Mr. Jeff Smith,
I hope your movie does not span books 1-9 because there will be so much left out. I hope to see it in 2009. =D
Sincerely,
Ray P. and Samir B.H.
Comment by ray and samir — March 27, 2008 @ 6:55 pm
Woah a bone movie….. this is weird. i kinda lied at my school saying that there’d be a bone movie in two years and i didjn’t even know about this until i read it today! well at least this makes me not a liar.
Congrats Jeff,
That Guy You saw at No Frills.
Comment by Malkiel cabrera — March 30, 2008 @ 6:22 pm
YES YES YES!!!
I am hoping the same people who did the voices in the games will do the movie voices, they were pretty good!
Comment by nintendude — April 3, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
finally!
I’ve been hoping there wuld be a movie!
Comment by legosryan — April 3, 2008 @ 7:41 pm
You liked the game voices? Poor Smiley sounded like a hillbilly and the others weren’t much better. I was really disappointed with the game voices. They just didn’t fit the characters.
I think it would be best to have professional voice actors for this. Although Disney has had some regular actors for their animated films and for many of the Studio Ghibli films and they have done a fantastic job with those. Specifically Princess Mononoke and Howl’s moving castle for example. I felt that these had turned out so well that when watching them it almost feels that I was a part of them. I only hope that the Bone movie could have that same type of feeling. The character’s can really move a story but only if it’s done well. Though I may be bias since I watch a lot of anime and they have some of the best voice actors around.
A movie almost has to feel real for the story’s events and characters to be believable. To do that you need an amazing story, a fantastic production team to pull it off including some of the best animators (2d) around and a phenomenal voice cast among other things.
I just love anime more than any other type of animation (save for stop motion) and I would love to get those same feelings of excitement that I get from watching my favorite Miyazaki or stop motion films. It is similar to that same feeling I got while reading for the first time or over again as Grandma Ben’s eyes lit up as she told Thorn of her royal lineage. Ooh I just got chills just thinking about it lol and I had read it in its original b&w, so no color to add to the drama.
It would just kill me if Bone was anything less than these feelings of excitement and anticipation we all get from reading Bone or watching our favorite animated films. So please Jeff and WB please don’t let us Bone fans down.
Comment by Jeanette — April 4, 2008 @ 2:36 am
OMG, I so hope you do it in 2D. The traditionally animated feature film field needs a rebirth, and Warner Brothers always does such good animation. I mean, have you *seen* Cat’s Don’t Dance? It was beautiful! God, just pair that beauty with the wonderful story of Bone…it’ll be amazing!
Good Luck,
B
Comment by Brandie — April 4, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
This is absolutely wonderful. I can’t wait. Hand-drawn animation would be fantastic!! If it is live action that would be pretty awesome, but if the GCI they would use doesn’t mesh well with the live action it will ruin it. I guess only time will tell!!! YAY
Comment by Jarad — April 4, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
this book is awsome!
i am so excited to see the bone movie
Comment by mariah — April 4, 2008 @ 5:18 pm
man that is so cool i love bone it’s awesome and now it’s going to be a movie thats sweet but is it going to be all the bone books together as one big show or just one book? someone if you know please anwser me
Comment by Max — April 17, 2008 @ 8:26 am
Hi Jeff! I finally….FINALLY finished your Bone series, and just wanted to give you an all around thanks for creating such a wonderful body of work. I wanted to do a little background research on the comic, and got quiet excited when I read the headline that WB is planning on turning this into a film (or maybe films??). Being an animation artist myself, however, I know all too well how Hollywood can really ruin original content they stem from, especially now-a-days. All while I was reading, I kept imagining it in 2D – I feel anything else would really ruin it! So I’m wishing you the best of luck that this film turns out to be the best it can.
Comment by Jessica Plummer — June 15, 2008 @ 1:50 am
Um, guys… The movie’s going to be CGI according to Variety and according to an Ohio newspaper article, Jeff knows.
Comment by Liam Scanlan — June 15, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
Congratulations Jeff! Me and my mom were thinking of the voices. I’m so excited!
Comment by Wesly Lancaster — July 21, 2008 @ 7:18 am
congrats!!! bone is my favorite graphic novel series! i cant wait to see it on the big screen! all i hope for is that it’s NOT live action. CG or hand drawn are my vote!
Comment by charlie G. — November 19, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
Jeff, good move!! I have been such a fan since I read your series, it makes me happy to see that your master peice will be on the screen!!
Comment by Alex — November 25, 2008 @ 8:03 pm
Jeff, this post is so late but I’ll write it anyway! Am a 2D animator at Disney and a HUGE Bone fan! I sincerely hope that you go with hand drawn animation man. Your designs have a charm to them that I’d love to see get realized in 2D. Cannot wait for these films, and congratulations!
Comment by Matt Williames — December 24, 2008 @ 1:17 am
Hey Jeff, congrats on the movie deal. I know it’s been almost a year since the news broke out, but I was kind of wondering how the project might be coming along (like if WB has thought of any release date). I hope the movie’s 2-d in the style of ‘The Thief and the Cobbler’ (if you haven’t heard of it, you should watch the recobbled cut on YouTube. It’s pretty mind-blowing), but if it’s 3-d I guess that’ll be cool too. Any news would be great news.
Comment by Nick K. — January 18, 2009 @ 2:51 am
the voice for fone bone should be elijah wood.
Comment by Quincy — February 8, 2009 @ 10:27 pm
I am so excited for this movie, I really do hope its 2D instead of the annoyingly constant CG movies that have been coming out lately. Before I heard the news I was already hoping so much that I even made a fan animation, which I am so embarassed to post so i am not.
Congrats Mr Smith
Comment by Aaron J — February 22, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Congratulations on the success. I only hope that with the bone movie, they can see the advanatages of keeping it true to the original story. I’d really think it’d work best as a trilogy: The Valley, Phoney Strikes Bak, and Friends and Enemies. Either way, if they include you creatively, I’m excited to see how it turns out. Congrats again.
Comment by Matt — February 27, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
Dear Jeff, are you making any more Bone books? I think the Bone books are the best! I hope you make more books. From,
Will
Comment by William Alexander Copeland — March 1, 2009 @ 10:12 am
I think it’s cool (and rather unexpected) that they’re gonna try making a BONE movie. I just hope WB doesn’t change it up TOO much – I hate it when they make a movie based off a book and it’s not even close to the original plot. Congrats on creating the BONE series, Jeff. If you didn’t make that series, I wouldn’t have even thought about being a cartoonist when I am older. Thanks dude!!
Comment by Allison — June 7, 2009 @ 3:55 pm
when is it coming out?
Comment by Ryan — July 3, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
REALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLY EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Twisted Inc. — August 4, 2009 @ 7:36 pm
Any news regarding the movie? It has been very still since the announcement, I hope you’ll soon give us an update with amazing news! (2D or 3D? Voice Cast? Trailer release?
)
Comment by André — August 30, 2009 @ 7:08 am
i love your books!
Comment by Darian — August 30, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
I’m very new on Bone. Have been knowing that it’s on the store maybe two months ago. Noticed the best-selling words but still refused to buy at first. Then, last week I bought it at a Christian bookstore and never regret what I read.
Now I’m gonna buy the second book, then third and so on…
Erick
Indonesia
Comment by Erick Sebastian — October 13, 2009 @ 1:38 am
when does it come to theaters
Comment by dj — October 29, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
A Bone movie?! I can’t believe it, but I can’t wait!^^ When’s it coming out?!
Comment by Christopher M. Ross — December 20, 2009 @ 5:48 am
I am very excited about the new Bone movie! It should definately be in 2D or be the same aspect as Roger Rabbit. I agree with whoever wrote that Christopher Lee should be the voice of Rock Jaw. I think that Elijah Wood should be Fone, Jon Heder as Smiley, and David Spade as Phoney, maybe Liv Tyler as Thorn. I hope that the movie or movies are very successful!
Comment by Becky Langston — January 7, 2010 @ 12:09 pm
Actually, now that I think about it, I have always imagined Smiley having either a goofy Western voice or sounding like a goofy Irishman, of course that is just me. Also I can imagine Lucius having the voice of Ian Mclellan. The relation between Lucius and Smiley reminds me of the relation between Gandalf and Pippin. ”Fool of a Took!” ”Fool of a Bone!”
Comment by Becky Langston — January 7, 2010 @ 12:40 pm