Blue Sky Studios has made quite a formidable dent in the animation genre since they arrived on the scene in 2002. Their first big feature, Ice Age, was a huge success and they've since followed it up with two more Ice Age sequels, Robots, and Horton Hears a Who. Peter over at SlashFilm has picked up an unconfirmed scoop regarding another one of their future projects - an adaptation of Bruce Zick's small press book The Anubis Tapestry. Apparently Zick was also recently hired by Blue Sky to "develop several of their future film concepts," which makes this seem oddly coincidental and all the more legitimate. Zick's illustrations are incredibly cool and would definitely be great inspiration for an animated film - take a look at some of his work below.
When a mummy's curse condemns Dr. George Henry's spirit to the Egyptian Underworld, his son Chance must try to free him. But Chance risks becoming a mummy himself when he binds himself in the wrappings of the mysterious Anubis Tapestry. Led by a comical creature named Blixx, Chance plumbs the depths of the Underworld and encounters a variety of horrible monsters. If Chance can't return by twilight, he and Blixx will be trapped forever in the dead's domain! You can pick up a copy of the book over at Amazon.com.
Bruce Zick has been a conceptual artist for countless films, including Finding Nemo, Titan A.E., A Bug's Life, The Lion King, and Wall-E. He's a very capable illustrator and I can only imagine his book is as wildly imaginative as his drawings are. Chris Wedge, the director of Blue Sky's Ice Age and Robots, wrote this quote which appears on the cover of The Anubis Tapestry. "Bruce Zick lives in a rich world of fantasy. Fortunately there is a portal into it — his effortless drawing style and his thoughtful, descriptive prose."
Blue Sky is currently finishing Ice Age 3, set for the summer of 2009, as well as The Fantastic Mr. Fox, due out in late 2009. If this rumor turns out to be true, it's likely that this is one of Blue Sky's 2010 films.
If you take a look at some of the drawings from the book, it's definitely obvious that this could easily be adapted into something fun. I hope Blue Sky studios doesn't turn this into a big pile of mush (I didn't like Robots at all), but I'm expecting with Zick involved, it won't go that way. You can see more examples of Zick's work at SlashFilm or check out the one I've included below.
Source: Firts
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