'Lonely Dog' finds a home at WB

Studio acquires rights to Ivan Clarke book

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Warner Bros. has acquired screen rights to "The Lonely Dog," a limited-edition book of paintings done by Queenstown artist Ivan Clarke. The studio will turn the dog tale into a CG animated film.

Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster will produce through Goldsman's WB-based Weed Road banner.

Clarke hatched the project when he left his dog alone, caught the look on the pooch's face and painted a fully clothed character with a lonely look on its mug.

He made a series of paintings that caught the attention of Weta Workshop's Richard Taylor, winner of five Oscars for his visual effects work on "The Lord of the Rings" films and "King Kong."

Together, Clarke and Taylor hatched a mythology for the character that became Lonely Dog.

Only 90 of the oversized books were published, selling for as much as $6,000 each.

Aside from co-writing "Angels & Demons," Goldsman is producing with Andrew Lazer "Jonah Hex," the Jimmy Hayward-directed Western that stars Josh Brolin and John Malkovich, for Warners. He's also a producer on the Sylvain White-directed "The Losers."