John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is set to write Frankenweenie for Tim Burton and Disney after first tackling the comic book adaptation Preacher for Sam Mendes and Columbia, says The Hollywood Reporter.
Frankenweenie is based on a comedic horror short that Burton made in 1984 while a film school student. The story tells of a man who brings his dog back to life after it is killed by a car. While the original was a live-action project, the new one will be made using stop-motion animation and be in 3-D. Like the original, the feature version is to be shot in black & white. Burton is producing and the studio is aiming for a 2011 release.
Preacher is based on the popular 1990s DC/Vertigo series created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. It tells the story of a down-and-out Texas preacher, given immense powers, who teams up with a former girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and sets out on a journey across America to find God — who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven — and hold him accountable for his negligence.
