‘Beasts of Burden’ Movie: Shane Acker Announced As Director

The Beasts of Burden movie was announced over a year ago, but the comic adaptation project has only just now secured a director.

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Shane Acker has been named to direct the film version of Beasts of Burden. Acker made his name in 2009 with the animated feature length adaptation of his Oscar nominated short film, 9.

Beasts of Burden tells the story of a group of dogs and one cat who team up to protect the seemingly idyllic small town, Burden Hill from all sorts of sinister supernatural threats. The popular comic is written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by Jill Thompson, and is published by Dark Horse comics. Beasts of Burden has won numerous high profile comic book awards including seven Eisner Awards since 2004.

The CGI film will be put together and produced by ReelFX Creative Studios, with Jack the Giant Killer‘s Darren Lemke working on the screenplay. President of ReelFX animation, Aron Warner will produce the film alongside Dark Horse’s Mike Richardson. New Zealand filmmaker, Andrew Adamson of Shrek and The Chronicles of Narnia fame is also taking a producer’s seat. The Beasts of Burden project still doesn’t have an official title.

Dark Horse comics are still a growing name in comic movies, though the publisher maintains a powerful print popularity. While they still fall behind the majors Marvel and DC for comic movies, the volume and reputation of films based on Dark Horse properties is increasing. Dark Horse’s most successful movie adaptations have included Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy movie franchise, and Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s Sin City film. Beasts of Burden and Hellboy have been published together in several Dark Horse comics crossover editions.

Shane Acker currently has a number of other films in the works including a new Thomas the Tank Engine movie, however Empire Magazine speculates the Beasts of Burden movie will move to the front of his queue.