Oct 16, 2019

Netflix to Produce "Bone" Series

Netflix announced this morning that it has acquired the rights to the independent fantasy comic series "Bone" and plans to develop an animated series for children.

"We've waited a long time for this. Netflix is the perfect home for Bone." Fans of the book know that the story will unfold chapter by chapter, book by book. The Netflix team is committed to understanding Bone and doing something special with it."

"Bone," which ran for 55 issues from 1991 to 2004, tells the story of three cousins, Bone, who arrive in a fantastic valley where they must free themselves from the Locust King. Smith, an animator who co-founded the Ohio studio Character Builders, was influenced in the creation of Bone by his appreciation for classic cartoonists and comic book artists such as Carl Barks, Walt Kelly, and George Herriman.

As far back as the 1990s, various studios have attempted to translate Bourne into animation. Nickelodeon was one of the earliest companies involved and wanted to produce a Bourne animated feature. The deal fell through due to differences in creative vision between the studios and the creators. Smith said in an interview that Nickelodeon tried to change the tone of the film by suggesting the addition of pop songs by Britney Spears and Nsync:

Nickelodeon tried to turn "Bourne" into an animated feature in the 1990s, but creator Jeff Smith refused to add pop songs by Britney Spears and NSYNC, the deal fell through. Here's what happened: pic.twitter.com/xQ4ZNzB029

- cartoonbrew.com (@cartoonbrew) October 17, 2019

Most recently, Mark Osborne for Warner Bros. a three-part film was being developed by the company. Smith has previously stated that he would prefer a hand-drawn version of "Bourne" over a CG translation, and with the project set as a series on Netflix, that possibility seems clear. (Update: Smith confirmed on Twitter that the series will be produced in 2D.)

Bone was chosen by Scholastic as a launch title for Graphix, an imprint of graphic novels for children and teens, after publication ended and became a main stream hit. Since then, the comic has sold more than 8 million copies in North America alone and has now been translated into 30 languages worldwide.