Sarah Michelle Gellar

Lionsgate living "Happily" with animated satire

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Lionsgate has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to the computer-animated storybook parody "Happily N’Ever After," featuring the voice talents of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sigourney Weaver, Freddie Prinze Jr., George Carlin, Wallace Shawn and Andy Dick.

Directed by Paul J. Bolger from a screenplay by Robert Moreland, the film is a satirical retelling of the classic Cinderella story and is set in Fairy Tale Land, where the age-old balance between good and evil has been thrown out of whack.

Led by Cinderella’s (aka Ella) power-mad stepmother, an unholy alliance of bad guys takes on the good guys. When Ella sees her own fairy tale take a radical turn, she sheds her damsel-in-distress trappings to lead the resistance.

Lionsgate is eyeing the first quarter as a release date.

The film was produced by John H. Williams ("Shrek"), BAF Berlin Animation Film and BFC Berliner Film Companie.