Producers Lawrence Bender and Karen Barber have signed a two-pic deal with Nickelodeon Movies to bring Jeff Stone's adventure book series "The Five Ancestors" to the bigscreen reports Variety.
"The Five Ancestors" will be adapted from Stone's seven-book series, published by Random House. The first two installments were released last year, with another due in March.
Set in 17th-century China, the series follows the adventures of five young monks, each of whom specializes in a different style of "Animal" kung fu. After a rebel brother monk leads an attack on their secret temple, the monks are forced to flee and must rely on their training and instincts to survive.
As part of the deal, Bender and Barber also will produce a CGI feature, "Holy Cow". The project, penned by Ted Grennan and Peter Kalmbach, centers on the tale of a young bull from Montana named Bamboo who befriends a caterpillar that tells him of a place called India, where cows are sacred, free and holy. The two embark on a journey, and find the country while outwitting a group of pesky chickens.
