Sony Animation has tapped Enchanted director Kevin Lima and screenwriter David Sussman to develop an untitled project. The details are under wraps and the greenlighters are waiting on Sussman’s script, which Lima will direct. Word is the film will be a live-action/CGI hybrid “in the vein of Alice in Wonderland,” which could refer to the Tim Burton hit, the Disney animated classic, or Lewis Carroll’s original novel, or none of the above. 
After pulling in more than $300 million worldwide for Disney with Enchanted, Lima has been linked to Universal’s Candy Land as well as The Incredible Mr. Limpet, a remake of a 1964 Don Knotts vehicle. Sussman has been working on Sony’s comedy Marathon and the two of them are in the thick of a TV pilot about a New York City family for Fox.
Sony Pictures Animation has a commercially successful track record, with hits Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, Open Season and Surf’s Up grossing a combined total of over half a billion dollars worldwide. Critically, however, SPA lags far behind critics’ darlings Pixar, who are generally neck and neck with DreamWorks Animation when it comes to critical accolades.
Enchanted was better than I was expecting. Lima and Sussman know what they’re doing – the live-action/CGI hybrid field has yet to be exploited to its fullest, so we can expect interesting things from Sony and these artists.
Are you a fan of Enchanted? What do think these guys are cooking up?