Oh well, so much for that! Earlier today there was a ray of hope that Henry Selick(Coraline) would join back with the folks at Laika to finance his stop-motion animated film which Disney cancelled just last month. Turns out it won't happen, as FirstShowing reports the studio has passed on it due to an inability to come up with a workable budget. The film had cost Disney roughly $50M before they let it go, and one of the biggest complaints was that it was still pretty far behind in development.
Laika seemed like the perfect place, given Selick's history with the studio and their penchant for darker animated material. Rumored to be titled Shadow King(or Shademaker), all we really knew about it was that it dealt with two brothers. Not that it matters now because the film is pretty much dead. Kinda sad, as Selick is a unique talent in a genre that's been making a serious comeback lately.
Hopefully this doesn't hurt Selick's plan to adapt Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, but I have to be honest and say I doubt it'll ever happen. At least not at Disney where it's currently set up.
