MUMBAI: Crest Animation’s three-film deal with Lionsgate has a new development. The first film under the deal Sylvester and The Magic Pebbles has been shelved and the company is now working on the second project titled Alpha Omega.

All three films are family dramas. Speaking to Businessofcinema.com Crest Animation CEO A K Mahadevan says, “Sylvester and The Magic Pebbles is being shelved because the script was not turning out as good as we had anticipated. So we will be re-writing it.”

The film, which was slated for release in 2008 did not face any monetary losses. “The film was on scripting level and we had the designing in place. So it was all internal. The film will release sometime in early January 2009 now,” states Mahadevan.

The second project Alpha Omega has now moved into the pre-production stage. He adds, “We had not expected this one to progress so swiftly. Right now we are concentrating on the first two films. We haven’t identified the properties for our third film.”

The release dates will be decided by international distributor – Lionsgate. The deal was sealed for $ 25 million for each film.