American McGee cancels OZombie Kickstarter to launch a campaign for Alice movie rights

Children's stories tend to have a dark undercurrent, but never more so than when they're in the hands of American McGee.

First were the Alice games, which gave a warped view of Wonderland. Next it seemed he hoped to turn his attention to the Land of Oz, with the launch of his Kickstarter campaign for OZombie.

But it wasn't to be. McGee and co ended the Kickstart project earlier today, after three weeks on the crowd-funding site.

On his Kickstarter update page, McGee lists the key reasons for the cancellation.

Securing the rights to an Alice film was key among these. Currently Collision Entertainment holds these, with $100,000 a year required to buy and maintain the licence, or $500,000 to purchase them outright.

McGee cites, "a rapidly closing window of opportunity" to secure the licence as main cause for OZombie's cancellation, as having listed an Alice's movie as a stretch goal on the OZombie campaign, the team was unable to launch a separate Kickstarter for it.

Even once removed as a goal, a second campaign could not be listed. McGee goes on to explain that, "to launch a campaign for the Alice films rights means we must first shut down the Oz campaign."

There is some humble pie (probably labelled "eat me") for McGee however, as he does admit that were OZombie closer to its goal of $950,000 he would have not ended it prematurely. But at only 15 percent ($141,513) of the target after three weeks on the site, that wish was not to be.

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Those interested in the new 3D Alice animation, Alice: Otherlands, can check out the trailer. While those interested in the future of OZombie will have to keep a close eye on Kickstarter.

"We can always launch another campaign in the future."