Studio digs "Bone" adaptation

Sun Mar 9, 2008 9:55pm EDT

By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Warner Bros. has picked up the rights to "Bone," the independent comic book series from artist Jeff Smith.

The fantasy series followed three cousins from the Bone family who are small, white and bald human-like creatures with big noses. The trio are run out of their hometown and find themselves in a mysterious valley where they are separated and hunted by other creatures. They are taken in by a girl named Thorn and her grandmother and find out that valley is threatened by an evil force called the Lord of the Locusts.

The series ran irregularly from 1991-2004. Scholastic has been publishing the collected stories in graphic novel format

A decision on what kind of format "Bone" should take -- live action, animated or both -- has yet to be made.

An animated version was in development at Nickelodeon Films but fell through, partly because of Smith's displeasure over the fact that the studio was aiming the adaptation at kids and wanted the film to include pop songs.