Fans of Henry Selick and his films like Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas were dismayed last August when it was revealed that Walt Disney Pictures had elected not to move forward with his then-untitled next feature. Since then, the future of the project has been uncertain but today, K5 International has revealed that they’ve stepped in to produce alongside Josh Penn (Beasts of the Southern Wild). The film, titled The Shadow King, is officially described as follows:
The Shadow King is a deliciously magical tale about nine-year-old New York orphan Hap who hides his fantastically weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world. But when a living shadow girl teaches him to make amazing hand shadows that come to life, his hands become incredible weapons in a shadow war against a ravenous monster bent on killing Haps brother Richard and ultimately destroying New York.
The Shadow King is written and directed by Selick. His team includes Director of Photographer Peter Sorg (Frankenweenie, Coraline), Eric Leighton, Animation Director on Legend of the Guardians: The Owls Of Gahoole, Production Designer Lou Romano (The Incredibles), Editor Wyatt Jones (Immortals, Rango), and composer Bruno Coulais (Coraline).
K5 is the perfect presenter for ‘The Shadow King’ they appreciate the film’s exciting blend of the fantastic and personal with its mix of humor, scares, and moments of sweetness. We can’t wait to get back into production, stated Henry Selick.
We immediately realized that ‘The Shadow King’ is a fantastic and exciting prospect that needed to find the support. To offer our help to Henrys brilliance as a storyteller is an absolute pleasure for us. And it also demonstrates K5s commitment to bringing bigger and bolder projects to the market, say K5s Co-Founders Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur.
Henry Selick is the best in the business. His films are all instant classics and they delight family audiences all over the world over and over again, adds Partner Sales Carl Clifton.
A significant amount of production on the project has already been completed and K5 International will bring the project to the European Film Market at Berlin to conduct special presentations to selected buyers with exclusive clips from the film screened behind closed doors as part of the presentation.
