Disney Pauses Development of ‘The Graveyard Book’ Amid Neil Gaiman Sexual Assault Accusations
Amid sexual assault allegations against author Neil Gaiman, Disney has decided to pause their adaptation of The Graveyard Book.
Initially announced in 2022, Marc Forster was set to direct the film, which would have followed the story of a young boy named Nobody “Bod” Owen, who is raised by the ghosts and ghouls of a graveyard after his family is murdered.
Photo: Amazon
David Magee was tapped to write the script while Forster and Renee Wolfe were producing.
Disney Pauses Production
According to a report from IndieWire, Disney has not canceled the project altogether but has paused development.
Today’s news comes just months after Tortoise Media published a podcast series that featured sexual assault allegations against Gaiman by four women. A fifth woman later also came forward.
Photo: Variety
Disney originally acquired the rights to The Graveyard Book in 2012, with director Henry Selick attached to the project. According to Gaiman, Pixar was once set to adapt the film in stop-motion.
“It was sold to the Walt Disney Company because Henry Selick, who made Coraline, was at Pixar, at the time, and wanted to make it. They were going to make it as Pixar’s first adapted film. It was going to be stop-motion animation, like Coraline,” the author told Collider.
Pixar Logo
“I was really excited. That was why I went there. Then, Henry wound up leaving with a film that he got halfway through and then abandoned, and it was closed down by Alan Horn.”
Gaiman Was Not Involved With the Film
As Gaiman is now under investigation in New Zealand, it is possible that Disney will wait for the legal process to play out before deciding on the future of The Graveyard Book.
Photo: Deadline
It should be noted, however, that the author was not involved with the Disney film.
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