Henry Selick plans to make a stop-motion animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane

When it comes to stop-motion animated films, American filmmaker and clay animator Henry Selick is your guy. He's directed some of the best stop-motion films, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Coraline and Wendell & Wild. Now, he's looking to make a stop-motion animated film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. More on this below.

This wouldn't be the first time that Selick and Gaiman collaborated. They previously worked together on the 2009 stop-motion animated movie Coraline. Selick wrote the script and helmed the film, which was based on Gaiman's 2002 dark fantasy horror children's novella of the same name.

The critically acclaimed stop-motion flick was a box-office hit, grossing $131.8 million against a $60 million budget. It even went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. In fact, many people consider it to be one of the greatest animated films of all time. It's even set to get a new 3D remaster this August, something we know many fans will be happy about.

Selick's previous work has shown us that he can be trusted to make great content. That's why we're keeping our fingers crossed that his plan to make another stop-motion film turns into reality. According to Variety, he plans to make The Ocean at the End of the Lane adaptation his next feature. He describes the adaptation as “almost a sequel” to Coraline, serving as a companion piece to the 2009 film.

Here's what Selick says makes The Ocean at the End of the Lane stop-motion adaptation different from Coraline:

"Instead of a child going to this other world with a monstrous mother, it’s a monstrous mother who comes into our world to wreak havoc on a kid’s life."

- Henry Selick

He's already written a 35-page treatment and created many artwork and concept designs for the film. Now, he's shopping it around. Variety mentions that animation studio ShadowMachine has already shown interest in the project. ShadowMachine is best known for being the animation studio behind Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio on Netflix.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a 2013 novel telling the story of a middle-aged man who returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral only to find himself reliving memories he'd long since forgotten. You can purchase the book as a paperback ($12.60 before taxes), hardcover ($16.61 before taxes), or eBook ($8.99 before taxes) on Amazon at various prices.

Here's the book's official synopsis via Goodreads:

"A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy."

The stop-motion animated adaptation is currently in the development stage. As we learn new information about it, we'll be sure to share with you everything we found. So, stay tuned to 1428 Elm!

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