Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, Alec Baldwin and Isla Fisher will voice the lead roles in DreamWorks Animation’s 3D epic “Rise of the Guardians.”

Peter Ramsey is directing the pic based on “The Guardians of Childhood,” an upcoming series of children’s books by William Joyce, who will co-direct.

Guillermo del Toro and Michael Siegel are exec producing, while Christina Steinberg and Nancy Bernstein will serve as producers.

Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire wrote the screenplay, which follows a group of heroic childhood legends, each with extraordinary abilities. When Pitch (Law), an evil spirit akin to the boogeyman, lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

Project was originally announced in December 2009, with Leonardo DiCaprio voicing Jack Frost, a role Pine will be taking over. He’ll be joined by Jackman’s Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny), Baldwin’s North (Santa Claus) and Fisher’s Tooth (the Tooth Fairy).

“It’s a thrill to be working with such an all-star team of actors and filmmakers,” Bill Damaschke, DWA’s chief creative officer, said in a statement to Variety. “When we bring Bill Joyce’s imaginative vision to the screen in 2012, audiences will experience an incredible story with a truly epic sense of adventure.”

DWA will release the film on Nov. 21, 2012.

– variety.com

We’ve known about the Dreamworks Animation adaptation of William Joyce‘s book series The Guardians of Childhood for some time. The book series, called “a contemporary fairytale based on existing fairytale characters” involves the world’s five unlikeliest heroes – Jack Frost, North (aka Santa), Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny), Tooth (the Tooth Fairy), and Sandy (the Sandman) – who must band together to stop an ancient spirit called Pitch (the Boogeyman) from plunging the world into eternal darkness. Of course, the characters have been “somewhat renamed and massively re-imagined”. Joyce’s work inspired Disney’s Meet The Robinsons.

In November 2009, Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole, Shrek the Musical) was hired to adapt the story. Visual effects artist and animator Jeff Lynch was originally set to make this his feature directorial debut. Peter Ramsey, who last directed the recent Monsters vs. Aliens TV Halloween spin-off and was head of story on the Monsters vs. Aliens feature, replaced him. Leonardo DiCaprio was originally set to voice Jack Frost. Also contributing to the film, based on prior reports, is Watchmen and Fantastic Mr. Fox production designer Alex McDowell.

– slashfilm.com