French animation studio Xilam is bringing comic book hero Lucky Luke to the big screen in Tous a l’ouest, scheduled to be released in fall 2007, reports Variety.
The film, co-produced by Dargaud-Marina and Lucky Comics with a budget of e12 million ($14.4 million), will be directed by Olivier Jean-Marie from a script by Jean-Marie and Jean-Francois Henry.
Xilam’s TV series based on the cowboy drew 4.2 million viewers during its run on TV network France 3 and won the TV industry’s 7 d’Or kudo for animated series in 2003.
Tous a l’ouest will be loosely based on the comic book “The Caravan” and will see the cowboy, accompanied by his talking horse Jolly Jumper, go up against long-time enemies the hapless Dalton brothers in a gallop across 19th century America.
Xilam hopes to net big names for the voices of the animated characters and plans an English-language version. French actor Antoine de Caunes lent his voice to Lucky Luke’s TV incarnation.
The last film adaptation of the Lucky Luke franchise, the $27 million budget The Daltons, a live-action film, grossed only $12.2 million in France when it bowed in 2004.
Source: Variety
