It's been an enthusiastically-received staple of Comic-Con for the last couple of years, but The Goon**, produced by David Fincher from Eric Powell's comics, is still no nearer production.
Fincher, out on the rounds for the Social Network DVD, told AICN that the small matter of a $55m budget is a sticking point for potential studios. "Animation that isn't singing furry animals is hard," he explains, "especially when it's something as outre as Eric Powell."
A slapstick supernatural noir, The Goon (not to be confused with the Seann William Scott-starring hockey movie or the Diana Wynne-Jones novel Archer's Goon) involves a mob enforcer, his sidekick, and a villain in the form of a priest who leads a legion of zombies. Fincher dislikes the term "adult animation" though: "I think that ends up starting to sound like Fritz the Cat, and that's not what it is. It's more like 'teen animation'. And it's funny!"
The footage that exists so far seems to bear him out, and Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown are attached for voice duties, but the project is still treading water until "someone steps in and wants to pick it up," says Fincher. "Hopefully this will be the year that people go 'Wait a minute! We don't all have to be trying to imitate Pixar!'"