Animation and vfx house GigaPix Studios announced plans to produce a feature film based on the popular underground comic book Dr. Grave. The comic’s creator, Ed Vis, wrote the original screenplay for the pic, which will employ a combination of live action and CG effects.
Dr. Grave was first published by Slave Labor Graphics in 2000. GigaPix president David Pritchard describes the franchise’s unlikely hero as a sexy, middle-aged adventurer who embodies elements of Indiana Jones and Austin Powers, with a dash of Monty Python humor. The comics spoof pulp fiction of the 1950s as the crass Dr. Grave and his long-suffering assistant, Shandar, find themselves in various absurd adventures.
Budgeted at between $40 million and $50 million, the feature is being developed by Vis under the supervision of producers Kenneth Kokin (The Usual Suspects, Way of the Gun) and Bruce L. Berman of Valor Ent.
Kokin comments, ‘The main things that attracted us to GigaPix are that David has a wicked sense of humor that supports the tone of the script, shares a vision to cast the lead actors with genius-comedic abilities and has in-house CG facilities to give the Dr. Grave property epic spectacle. And if you look at the projects David has been associated with (The Simpsons, Dr Katz, Family Guy and King of the Hill while heading up Film Roman), he understands how to protect franchisable characters and build a great production team to support that franchise.’
Berman says he and Kokin have been working with Vis on the screenplay for two years. The movie will be first live-action effort for Chatsworth, Calif.-based GigaPix. Founded in 2002 by CEO Chris Blauvelt, the studio currently has four animated features in development’an adventure comedy titled Junk Bots, an irreverent rabbit fantasy titled Twilight, a sci-fi thriller titled Alien SAR and a superhero spoof titled Hypnopig. More information on the studio can be found at www.gigapixstudios.com.
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