One of the top-10 comics released in the past five years by publishers other than Marvel or DC, "Wonderland" is a modern retelling of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel "Alice in Wonderland" from the point of view of Alice's daughter. It's based on three miniseries — "Return to Wonderland," "Escape From Wonderland" and "Beyond Wonderland" — created and written by Zenescope co-founders Tedesco, Joe Brusha and Raven Gregory.
"A week after pitching the property and returning to Philly we started fielding calls about its availability and it just quickly turned into a six-studio bidding war," Tedesco said. Lionsgate won the rights to "Wonderland," beating out TV divisions from Warner Bros., CBS, 20th Century-Fox, ABC and Sony.
"Joe and I ultimately got on the phone with Lionsgate's [TV Group president] Kevin Beggs and producer/director Brian Robbins (“Smallville"), and just felt really comfortable with them,” Tedesco said. "There was a very good fit there as they really showed their passion for the property and shared the same vision we had. And after mulling our options, which were all great options, we decided to go with Lionsgate. Our reps at Artist International negotiated the deal along with our entertainment attorney, Mark Temple."
Tedesco said part of the appeal of the deal is that there is little chance his creative vision will be compromised. A search is under way to find a writer to adapt the material, with Robbins envisioning an established actress to play Alice in the live-action effort and a newcomer to play her daughter.
"I was really drawn to the visuals; they're dark, intense and sexual in a really provocative way," Robbins told the Hollywood Reporter. "I love that it's a mother-daughter story; that's what really drew me to it. In the same way that [“Smallville's"] Clark [Tom Welling] had a similar relationship with his father, there's a parallel here. It's a really great retelling of the Wonderland story.”
Hot movie preview
There will be a screening and fundraiser for the movie "Burn," a documentary about Detroit firefighters, at the Prince Music Theater (1412 Chestnut St.). There will be showings tonight (Tuesday) and Wednesday at 6 and 8:30.
Co-directors Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez and a few of the firefighters will be in attendance.
West Chester native and Temple grad Kimberly Burnick is an associate producer on the film and says it is extremely relevant to all first responders across the nation.
You can buy tix at princemusictheater.org/season/burn-fundraiser.
TATTBITS
"Shrek" movie studio DreamWorks Animation is buying Classic Media, custodian of a library of movies and TV series that includes "Casper the Friendly Ghost," "Lassie," "Rocky & Bullwinkle" and "The Lone Ranger" — not to mention Christmas classics "Frosty the Snowman," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town."
The company is paying $155 million in cash to Classic Media's owner, Boomerang Media Holdings.
We can't wait for an animated "Lassie" character in "Madagascar 5."
Just in case you thought homophobia was bad at Chick-Fil-A, a group of Ukrainian lawmakers are trying to ban any TV shows, movies or public parades that portray gays sympathetically.
The recently introduced bill would impose prison terms of up to five years and unspecified fines for spreading a positive depiction of gays in public.
That's right — don't even think about watching "Will & Grace" on your iPad.
And if you're flying to Ukraine, remember to set your watch back 30 years.
—Daily News wire services
contributed to this report.
Email gensleh@phillynews.com.
