4 For 9

Produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, Shane Acker's 9 is likely to be one of the more distinctive animated films of the coming year or so. Based on Acker's short, from which I've taken the images above (go on - click on them, they're huge and very detailed) the feature-length expansion is currently being animated in Luxembourg by Attitude Studios.

Anybody who has seen the original short 9 will know that none of the characters talk - however, this isn't to be the case in the feature version. Speaking to Cartoon Brew's Amid Amidi at an Animation Show Q&A, Acker announced the four lead voice actors and they were Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Elijah Wood and John C. Reilly.

A superb roster. I don't know if Acker has the storytelling chops to sustain a complex narrative over feature length but he's certainly very strong on the atmospherics.