Netflix Cancels Its Animated Adaptation of Bone and the Creator Expresses His Frustration in a Comic Strip
Bone creator Jeff Smith has been on quite a frustrating journey trying to get an animated adaptation of his comic Bone off the ground and into production. Nickelodeon was the first studio to approach Smith about an animated movie. After that didn’t work out, Warner Bros. jumped in wanting to do something! When that didn’t go anywhere, Netflix came knocking!
Well, now Netflix has canceled its attempt to adapt Bone. The project was one of the casualties of Netflix’s current issues as they are restructuring their animation division. This is pretty disappointing news because Netflix was supposed to be the best shot at getting the series made. Now Smith is expressing his frustration on the matter in a comic strip he recently posted on social media. You can check that out below:
Years ago, Smith offered some insight on the issues he was having as he was working with Nickelodeon on the project. He reveals some insight on what the studio executives were thingking and how they would have helped ruin what Smith’s creation by wanting to include pop songs. He shared in an interview with Ain’t it Cool:
"In the late '90s, I was really adamant that there would be no songs in the movie — because all animated feature films seem to have these awful formulaic songs. I think that's a law somewhere — 'Animated film for kids? Put some crappy songs in it!' [...]
"But Nickelodeon did agree to no songs. In writing. So this pop-song thing was probably the turning point in the whole affair for me; this was about a year-and-a-half in. [...] But one day after lunch we sat down ... and the executive there turned to me and said, "Okay. We can get $12 million right now if we put a pop song in the movie. So, Jeff — do you see somewhere in the body of the film where we could put a Britney Spears or an NSYNC song?
"And I just turned and looked at [my wife and business manager] Vijaya, we looked at each other, and I said, 'No.' I mean, that's not the kind of movie that we were making. I mean, you wouldn't put a Britney Spears song in the middle of 'The Empire Strikes Back' or the middle of 'Lord of the Rings.' [...] Things went downhill rapidly after that. I think I became, instead of 'the director and the writer,' I suddenly became 'the creator who was being too protective of his little baby.'"
When the project ended up at WB in 2008, they wanted to develop a feature film Bone trilogy. Greek series creator Patrick Sean Smith jumped on board that project with My Best Friend's Wedding filmmaker P.J. Hogan set to direct. When their vision didn’t work, screenwriter Adam Kline teamed up with Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne in 2016, but nothing happened with that either.
Smith has gone through this disappointing shit three times already, and it sounds like he’s ready to give up on it. I imagine he doesn’t want to go through yet another disappointing experience, and I don’t blame him.