Disney's live-action film chief has confirmed the studio is still developing a movie based on The Graveyard Book. The original novel by Neil Gaiman was published in 2008 and won several prestigious literary awards, including the American Newberry Medal. Gaiman's source material tells the story of Nobody "Bod" Owen, a young boy who is raised by the ghosts and supernatural beings of a graveyard - including, the graveyard's caretaker Silas - after his family is murdered by a mysterious man known as Jack.

The Mouse House acquired The Graveyard Book's film rights back in 2012 and originally had Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) onboard to direct a movie adaptation. Ron Howard later entered talks to helm the project in early 2013 (after Selick had stepped away), but things didn't work out and there hasn't been a substantial update on the adaptation since then. As it turns out, however, the film is still alive and kicking.

Related: Pirates of the Caribbean Movie Reboot Won't Include Johnny Depp

THR recently interviewed Disney's film chief Sean Bailey about the studio's upcoming slate of non-animated projects, like the Dwayne Johnson-led Jungle Cruise. Bailey name-dropped The Graveyard Book during THR's interview and described the film as being "something we're excited about". Unfortunately, he didn't offer any additional information (like, who's writing and/or directing the movie) beyond that.

Between their theatrical releases and the movies headed straight to the Disney Plus streaming service next year, the Mouse House has several live-action remakes of its animated classics in the pipeline (with films like Aladdin and The Lion King getting the most attention right now). At the same time, the studio hopes to launch a lucrative franchise with the theme park ride-inspired Jungle Cruise and is developing several brand-new literary adaptations. The latter roster includes Kenneth Branagh's Artemis Fowl (which reaches theaters next summer) and Julia Hart's Stargirl (a Disney Plus exclusive), in addition to Tom McCarthy's Timmy Failure (another Disney Plus release) and Graveyard Book. What's less clear, however, is where the Gaiman adaptation fits into all this.

Gaiman novels like Stardust and Coraline have been adapted into mostly-lucrative big screen features in the past, so The Graveyard Book may yet follow in their footsteps. The original novel was heavily modeled after The Jungle Book and lends itself it to a live-action/CGI adaptation in the same vein as Disney and Jon Favreau's Jungle Book movie in particular. At the same time, Bod's tale is even darker and smaller in scope than Mowgli's coming of age story, so a movie adaptation could plausibly be done at a modest budget befitting of a Disney Plus exclusive. Either way, it's good to hear the film is still happening after the last five years of radio silence.

MORE: Disney's Upcoming Movie Releases - From 2018 to 2023

We will bring you more details on The Graveyard Book as they become available.

Source: THR