Dark Horse comic Beasts of Burden is heading to the big-screen with Shrek and Chronicles of Narnia director Andrew Adamson leading the charge.
Adamson is producing what is intended to be a CG-animated feature adaptation with his Strange Weather Films partner Aron Warner along with Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Entertainment.
Burden is being made by Reel FX, the company run by former Industrial Light and Magic senior executive Ed Jones and former Walden Media CEO Cary Granat, and that specializes in CG as well as live-action hybrid projects.
Burden is set in a community called Burden Hill where a series of supernatural events occur, causing a gang of dogs (and one cat) to team up in order to keep their owners and the town’s residents safe.
Evan Dorkin (Milk & Cheese) and Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother) created the characters, which first appeared in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, Witchcraft, the Dead and Monsters, and earned the duo Eisner Awards for best short story and best painter.
Dark Horse Entertainment’s Keith Goldberg is executive producing with Strange Weather’s Jeff Fierson co-producing. Reel FX’s head of feature development Jared Mass will oversee the project for the studio.
Burden is seen as a return to the animation world for Adamson and Warner, who directed and produced several of DreamWorks’ successful Shrek movies before moving into the world of The Chronicles of Narnia film adaptations.
Dark Horse is teeing up RIPD, to star Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges, at Universal, where it is also developing big-screen adaptations of Emily the Strange and Umbrella Academy.
