The Shadow King

The Shadow King is an upcoming stop-motion dark horror family adventure film written and directed by Henry Selick. Initially, The Walt Disney Company made plans to release the project, but eventually backed out of the deal, after spending a reported $50 million on it, leaving Selick to proceed without Disney, but with a plot and voice cast. The film was released widely in United States theaters on September 28, 2018, The film was produced by K5 International and The Gotham Group and distributed by A24.

Plot
The Shadow King is a deliciously magical tale about nine-year-old New York orphan Hap who hides his fantastically weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world. But when a living shadow girl teaches him to make amazing hand shadows that come to life, his hands become incredible weapons in a shadow war against a ravenous monster bent on killing Hap’s brother Richard and ultimately destroying New York.

Cast and characters

 * Lewis MacDougall as Richard
 * Brendan Gleeson as Darce
 * Jeffrey Tambor as Cuzzie Bell
 * Catherine O’Hara as Miss Fern
 * Neel Sethi as Hap
 * Maya Rudolph as Darce's Nun
 * Stanley Tucci as Fargo
 * Luke Evans as Shadow Monster

Pre-production
After the success of his stop motion film Coraline, director Selick was brought into Pixar and given a four-picture deal. He wrote his own script for a story about a young orphan in New York City who has hands with unusually long fingers which the child hides from others. When the child is taught how to make "amazing hand shadows that come to life", they become his weapons in a shadow war against a monster intent on killing the child's brother and ultimately, New York as well. The film began pre-production in 2011, with an expected release date of October 2013.

Setbacks
After spending a reported $50 million, and due to unspecified concerns over future costs and benefits, The Walt Disney Company declined the project in August 2012, allowing Selick to shop the project to other studios. In February 2013, it was reported in a press release by Selick that K5 International would be handling sales at the European Film Market. It is unknown when the film will actually be released; but, given the original intent to release the film for Halloween in October and the general macabre content of Henry Selick's films, A24 acquired distribution rights to the film. The film received very mixed reactions in advance screenings, so the studios decided to give the film is likely that it will be released in theatrical release in the United States, on September 28, 2018.