All Henry Selick does is make animated classics. Specifically of the stop-motion variety, the most difficult and thus the most rare form of animation. He directed the Tim Burton favorite, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and also James and the Giant Peach. In 2010, after joining LAIKA in bringing us the hit, Coraline, Selick signed a long term deal with Disney that would see him taking on an original stop-motion project. After earning an October 2013 release date, Variety now reports that production on the film has been halted, and Selick can start shopping it to other potential studios.
What's the deal? According to a source, the project just wasn't progressing along like Disney had expected, and the still untitled film was unlikely to hit the target release date. Considering we haven't even seen any concept art, or a basic plot outline, or even a title, this doesn't seem too far fetched. Fortunately, Disney is still moving forward with an adaptation of The Graveyard Book, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's award-winning fantasy novel, which they picked up for Selick to direct.
It's expected that The Graveyard Book will be another stop-motion film, but that still hasn't been made official. Considering the success Selick had using the format for Gaiman's Coraline, it wouldn't make much sense to go in another direction.
