"Funny People" star Seth Rogen will voice one of the leads in DreamWorks Animation's "Boo U," the actor's publicist has confirmed to TheWrap.
The story follows a ghost who must return to ghoul school to learn how to scare people better.
The Playlist describes the project as "Beetlejuice" meets "Billy Madison," while Slash Film goes with "Monsters Inc." meets "Casper," so let's combine the two and call it "Monsters Inc." meets "Billy Madison!" Intriguing, right?
Tony Leondis ("Igor," "Lilo & Stitch 2") will direct the 3D movie from a script by Jon Vitti, a longtime writer for "The Simpsons." Gil Netter and Courtney Pledger will executive produce.
While Rogen has previously voiced characters on "The Simpsons" and "American Dad," "Boo U" marks the eighth feature film he's signed on to voice a computer-animated character in since his back-to-back hits "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" in 2007, so he's clearly a huge fan of animation.
Rogen's distinct delivery can be heard in "Shrek the Third," "The Spiderwick Chronicles," "Horton Hears a Who," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Monsters vs. Aliens." He'll reprise his role as Mantis in "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom" next summer, and will play a CG-alien in Greg Mottola's upcoming comedy "Paul."
"Boo U" will be the fourth DWA movie that Rogen has made, and I guess it never hurts to help out Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.
However, Slash Film has noticed a recurring trend, pointing out that DWA seems to continually follow in Pixar's trailblazing footsteps. They followed the latter studio's "A Bug's Life" with "Antz," "Finding Nemo" with "A Shark's Tale," "The Incredibles" with the upcoming "Megamind," and though "Monsters vs. Aliens" concerned the same creatures as "Monsters Inc.," "Boo U's" logline more closely recalls that Pixar film.
That's why I propose DreamWorks Animation develop "Sole Men," an original script set in an upscale Beverly Hills shoe store that's on the verge of closing down when the owner decides to attract a different clientele by expanding the inventory and putting talking Nike high tops and Adidas cleats on the same shelves as Louboutin pumps and Prada heels. Think about it — everyone wears shoes, just like every child plays with "toys" and grows up to drive "cars" — the movie makes sense and Pixar doesn't have anything like it!
DWA has "The Croods," "The Guardians" and "Madagascar 3" set for 2012, so don't expect "Boo U" classes to be in session until 2013. The studio will release "Puss in Boots" in November 2011.
Rogen next stars in Michel Gondry's "The Green Hornet." He also has Jonathan Levine's cancer dramedy "Live With It" and Sarah Polley's "Take This Waltz" on the horizon, and is reportedly closing a deal to star opposite Barbra Streisand in Paramount's road comedy "My Mother's Curse."
According to The Playlist, Rogen is also planning a CG film titled "Sausage Party" with writing partner Evan Goldberg. Rogen and Jonah Hill will star, and "Kung Fu Panda" co-director Mark Osborne and "Monsters vs. Aliens" co-director Conrad Vernon are also reportedly involved in some capacity.
Rogen is represented by UTA and Principal Entertainment.
The news was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter.
