Shane Black, the award-winning director and writer behind action hits like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys, is moving from big screen punch-ups to small screen animation. Fox has tapped the Hollywood veteran to develop Crag Banyon P.I., a new animated series based on the off-kilter mystery books by James Mullaney. Fox Entertainment is the studio.
The show will follow alcoholic ex-cop turned private investigator Crag Banyon as he undertakes the unravelling of supernatural mysteries in a noirish alternate reality. The book series has seen Banyon crack cases involving everything from gods to leprechauns to Santa’s elves.
Black and Mullaney, who previously collaborated on an adaptation of the latter’s The Destroyer, will write and executive produce. Also exec producing are Stampede Ventures’ David Silverman, Greg Silverman and Paul Shapiro, Greenlit’s David Greenblatt and Vinson Films’ Tripp Vinson. David Silverman (The Simpsons Movie) is tapped to direct should the project get a presentation order; the concept has a script commitment.
Crag Banyon P.I. joins an ever-growing lineup of primetime animation projects in development or greenlight by the network, including the recently announced Greater Good, hybrid single cam comedy Demi-God, a new project with Superior Donuts star Jermaine Fowler and semi-autobiographical comedy Ocean Village. Also announced this year have been The X-Files: Albuquerque, Temporary Humans, Housebroken and a new Dan Harmon project.
[Source: Deadline]
