The Chatsworth, California-based animation and effects house GigaPix has announced the production of a feature film based on the Slave Labor Graphics' comic book series, Dr. Grave.  Ed Vis, the creator of the comic book, which Slave Labor published from 2000 to 2001, has written the screenplay for the film, which will utilize a combination of live action and CGI effects.

GigaPix's President Dave Pritchard, the former head of Film Roman (The Simpsons), loves the irreverent humor generated by Dr. Grave's sexy middle-age hero and his long-suffering sidekick Shandar, a comic duo whose antics smack of Austin Powers and satirize the pulp fiction of the 1950s.

The film has been greenlit with a budget of between $40 and $50 million.  Kenneth Kokin (The Usual Suspects) and Bruce L. Berman of Valor Ent. will produce.