Rob Edwards To Pen 2 films for Hollywood Studiosby Wilson Morales
May 18, 2011
Screenwriter Rob Edwards, who wrote the animated Disney film, ‘The Princess and the Frog,’ has been tapped to write two new films for Warner Bros. and Disney respectively, stated Collider.
In Warner Bros.’ Amulet, based on the graphic novel series by Kazu Kibuishi, two teenaged siblings find that they are the last surviving guardians who must learn the secrets of a powerful amulet to save a magical realm.
In Disney’s Animated American, a live-action/animation hybrid, a flesh-and-blood family raises an animated baby until he turns 18 and sets off to find his real family. Robert Zemeckis is set to produce Animated American alongside Bob Cooper and Dan Fogelman. Neither film has a start date as of yet.
Variety reports that Will Smith, who will produce Amulet alongside James Lassiter, is rumored to star alongside his son, Jaden. Since Jaden is a potential lead and the story involves a brother and sister, then it’s a good bet that Willow Smith may be cast as well. As for Edwards, in addition to his scripting The Princess and the Frog and Treasure Planet, he has previously worked with Will Smith in the early 90s as a writer for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Here is a synopsis for Kazu Kibuishi’s first Amulet graphic novel, The Stonekeeper [from Amazon]:
Almost too clever and poignant, Amulet is, on the surface, about navigating the murky waters of adolescence and, beneath that, an exploration of abandonment and survival. Emily and Navin are lost children, literally lost in a dark, new world and struggling to save their mother, who has been kidnapped by a drooling, tentacled beast. With stellar artwork, imaginative character design, moody color and consistent pacing, this first volume’s weakness lies in its largely disjointed storytelling. There is the strong, young, heroine; cute, furry, sidekicks; scary monsters—all extraordinary components, but pieced together in a patchwork manner. There is little hope in his dark world as Kibuishi removes Emily and Navin’s frame of safety. Their hopes rest in a magic amulet that seems to be working in the interest of the children—until it suddenly isn’t. The most frightening element of Amulet is the sense of insecurity we feel for Emily, fighting her way through uncharted terrain with no guide and no support system.
