This past weekend, a little flick called Puss in Boots hits theaters and proceeded to rake in $34 million. Not too surprising, since animated flicks bring out families, and Puss is a spin-off of the popular Shrek franchise. What you might not have known, unless you paid close attention to the credits, is that Puss in Boots included the involvement of a surprising collaborator: Guillermo del Toro. It's part of an ongoing deal that sees del Toro serving as executive producer for several DreamWorks projects. With Puss in Boots released, the LA Times has word of what will be next for the del Toro/DreamWorks association. He'll be overseeing a feature-length animated film based on the hit short, Alma, an adaptation that's been in the works for over a year but is now going into overdrive.

The original Alma short is the creation of former Pixar animator Rodrigo Biaas, and tells the story of a little girl who gets into trouble inside a creepy doll store. Biass will be directing the feature version, with del Toro yet again serving as exec producer and consultant, providing feedback and notes as he sees fit. Sunshine Cleaning screenwriter Megan Holley will be writing the script.

Seeing Guillermo del Toro's name attached to anything guarantees that project lands on my radar, and Alma has just enough creepy factor to be good fun, assuming they don't completely water it down in an effort to be "family friendly." Screw family friendly. Let's see a return to the good old days when kids' movies were dark and disturbing...and we loved every minute of them.

Here's the original Alma short.