Oddworld team lays 'Siege' to CG project

Animated 'Citizen' to target adults

By BEN FRITZ

Lanning

Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna, developers of the cult hit "Oddworld" vidgame franchise, are teaming with Vanguard Animation for a rare CG toon aimed at adults.

"Citizen Siege" is a dark political thriller set in the near future that Lanning will direct and "Shrek" producer John Williams, head of Vanguard, will produce.

Lanning and McKenna are co-founders of vidgame developer Oddworld Inhabitants, which moved away from making games in the past year to focus on turning "Siege" into a combined film and vidgame property.

Now that Vanguard has come aboard to make the pic, Oddworld is looking for a vidgame publisher to create a tie-in game that could be released simultaneously.

Lanning noted that because the major studios have been focusing their animation efforts exclusively on family pics, he and McKenna initially attempted to sell "Citizen Siege" as an effects-heavy live-action film he wouldn't have directed.

"I always thought of this as computer animation, but it seemed like it might be too much of a leap for the studios," Lanning told Daily Variety. "Luckily, when John Williams saw it, his reaction was that he wanted it to be done in CG."

Vanguard plans to do much of the work on the pic in its Vancouver studio, where it is currently producing "Space Chimps," which will be distributed by Fox next year.

"Citizen Siege" will have to buck a disappointing B.O. history for toons aimed at older auds, such as "Final Fantasy" and "Titan A.E."

"There is a real pile-up of family animated features, and we think there's room for something that has more in common with 'The Matrix' or 'Terminator,' " Williams said.

Vanguard plans to raise the budget, estimated at about $40 million, with outside investments, including foreign pre-sales at AFM this week. Though Starz Media has a 30% stake in Vanguard, "Citizen Siege" won't go out through the mini-conglom's distribution pipeline.

Lanning, whose "Oddworld" games have been very well received by critics though not big sellers, is the first vidgame developer in the U.S. to transition directly to helming a feature.

He and McKenna previously worked in visual f/x before founding Oddworld in 1994.

"There's a lot of creative talent in the game industry and a lot of the skill sets are crossing over with film, so I'd like to see this business become like musicvideos or commercials, where top talents can transition to other media," he said.

McKenna is exec producing along with Vanguard execs Terry Botwick and Margaret French Isaac.

Lanning first revealed details of the project Saturday in a speech co-sponsored by BAFTA at the GameCity Festival in Nottingham, U.K.

Lanning and McKenna are repped by CAA.