Kung Fu Panda director to helm animated adaptation of Jeff Smith’s Bone

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Fresh off the success of his adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince", director Mark Osborne has been tapped to helm an animated adaptation of Jeff Smith's long-running comic series "Bone". THR reports that Warner Bros., who picked up the rights to "Bone" close to a decade ago, have chosen Osborne (KUNG FU PANDA) to direct the upcoming feature which he will also co-write with Adam Kline (Artemis Fowl).

Smith's comic told the story of the "three Bone cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone, all small, bald and humanlike creatures with big noses — who are separated and lost in a vast uncharted desert after being run out of Boneville. One by one they find their way into a deep forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures." The series was published from 1991-2004, so obviously there's a great deal of material which they could draw from, and, surprise surprise, the studio is hoping to turn BONE into a trilogy of animated films. Shamefully I've never cracked open a single "Bone" comic, so I can't comment on what a feature film adaptation would be like, but given its long publication history and many awards, I'd imagine that this is something many of you are looking forward to, with perhaps the slightest hint of "please don't screw this up."

Mark Osborne had this to say of Jeff Smith's award-winning series:

Bone is very special and unconventional because it blends elements together that you don’t necessarily expect — soft, little comic characters and epic high-stakes fantasy adventure. To carry this into the cinematic realm presents both an opportunity to represent what readers of all ages have loved about the series, while pushing animated storytelling into exciting and different areas.