Sanders gets Crood at DreamWorks

Daily Variety has reported that Chris Sanders has been signed on to direct Crood Awakenings at DreamWorks. He started on Monday.

Sanders had been at Disney for twenty years, cumulating in his co-direction with Dean De Blois of the Lilo and Stitch feature. He left Disney two months ago due to creative differences over the American Dog project.

Crood Awakenings has a script co-written by John Cleese of "Monty Python"/"Fawlty Towers" fame and Kirk De Micco (Racing Stripes). It was to have a co-production with Aardman Animations, but DreamWorks reclaimed the project after their partnership ended.

Sanders indicated in the article that he may re-work the script, which has a caveman premise. The studio didn't commit to a release date, but Variety speculated on 2010 or 2011.

Sanders is the second Disney alumnus to land at DreamWorks in recent months; Rob Minkoff (Lion King) is developing the Mr. Peabody and Sherman feature as well.