Cartoon Sets Latest Live-Action Movie Project

Cartoon Network is now in pre-production on its latest live-action, CGI movie based on Lawrence Yep’s best-selling young adult book, Tiger’s Apprentice.

Network officials said Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Magee (Finding Neverland) adapted the award-winning book into a feature script optioned by Cartoon Network. Jane Startz (Tuck Everlasting, Indian in the Cupboard) will executive produce the project.

Set to premiere in 2010, Tiger’s Apprentice is now in pre-production with staffing and casting currently underway at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, Calif.

“Tiger's Apprentice is an award-winning property that represents our expansion into the high-quality original TV movie event business,” Rob Sorcher, chief content officer at Cartoon Network, said in a statement. “We’re proud to bring together a package of powerful writing and talent to a project we know is a passion for everyone involved.”

Tiger’s Apprentice tells the unfolding mystery of teenager Tom Lee, who, orphaned by his grandmother, is put under the protection of Mr. Hu, a mystical tiger who can take human form. Tom discovers an astonishing magical world inside San Francisco’s Chinatown, full of spells and characters spun from the lore of the Chinese Zodiac, including a Tiger, Dragon, Rat and Monkey, who rise to the task of training him in order to save the world.

This latest original movie joins the network’s expanding development slate with the previously announced comic book titles Firebreather, The Vanishers, Mice Templar and the sequel to the network’s live-action hit movie, Ben 10. Image Comic’s Firebreather, created by Phil Hester, and Mice Templar, by Mike Avon Oeming and Bryan Glass, will be developed as animated original movies.  IDW Publishing’s The Vanishers, created by Chuck Dixon, will be produced as a live-action original movie.