A while back, we reported that Disney had pulled the plug on director Henry Selick‘s latest film. At the time, we we didn’t know the title of the movie or any of the details. Today, I’m very happy to announce that the next film from Selick will be entitled: The Shadow King. The film will be another masterpiece in stop-motion animation and follows a young boy with creepily-long fingers who is taught to use his hands to make wonderful shadow puppets to combat evil!

I have loved Selick’s work since The Nightmare Before Christmas, and was really hurt when I found out that Disney was dropping it. Luckily, producer Josh Penn and K5 International have revived the project. Check out below for the voice cast, synopsis, and official press release!

Here’s the voice cast via Bleeding Cool:

• Jaden Betts as Hap
• Pamela Adlon as Richard
• Brendan Gleeson as Darce
• Jeffrey Tambor as Cuzzie Bell
• Catherine O’Hara as Miss Fern

Also, here’s the official synopsis:

THE SHADOW KING is a deliciously magical tale about nine-year-old New York orphan Hap who hides his fantastically weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world. But when a living shadow girl teaches him to make amazing hand shadows that come to life, his hands become incredible weapons in a shadow war against a ravenous monster bent on killing Hap’s brother Richard and ultimately destroying New York.

Here’s the full press release:

Henry Selick, the genius behind THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and the Oscar® and BAFTA nominated CORALINE, is moving forward with Academy Award nominated producer Josh Penn (BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD) and K5 International on his latest feature THE SHADOW KING.

THE SHADOW KING is a deliciously magical tale about nine-year-old New York orphan Hap who hides his fantastically weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world. But when a living shadow girl teaches him to make amazing hand shadows that come to life, his hands become incredible weapons in a shadow war against a ravenous monster bent on killing Hap’s brother Richard and ultimately destroying New York.

THE SHADOW KING is written and directed by Selick. His team includes an impressive array of renowned artists such as Director of Photographer Peter Sorg, (Frankenweenie, Coraline), Eric Leighton, Animation Director on Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’hoole, Production Designer Lou Romano (The Incredibles), Editor Wyatt Jones (Immortals, Rango, TRON: Legacy, Zodiac), and composer Bruno Coulais (Coraline).

THE SHADOW KING, until recently in hiatus after Disney exited the project, is already a good way into production.

K5 International is bringing Henry Selick to the European Film Market at Berlin to conduct special presentations to selected buyers with exclusive clips from the film screened behind closed doors as part of the presentation.

“K5 is the perfect presenter for THE SHADOW KING – they appreciate the film’s exciting blend of the fantastic and personal with its mix of humor, scares, and moments of sweetness. We can’t wait to get back into production,” stated Henry Selick.

“We immediately realized that THE SHADOW KING is a fantastic and exciting prospect that needed to find the support. To offer our help to Henry’s brilliance as a storyteller is an absolute pleasure for us. And it also demonstrates K5’s commitment to bringing bigger and bolder projects to the market,” say K5’s Co-Founders Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur.

“Henry Selick is the best in the business. His films are all instant classics and they delight family audiences all over the world over and over again,” adds Partner Sales Carl Clifton.

It’s not known how much of the project is completed or an expected release date, but we’ll keep you posted as more news on The Shadow King comes here to DFAT!

~Chaz