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Frank The Bastard? Try again. Maybe a more apt title would be Frank The Underwhelming? Frank The Undercooked? Frank The Utterly Lifeless Cinematic Endeavor?

The actual title of Brad Coley’s weightless drifter story suggests a rural nightmare akin to something more sinister. I’m not saying such a title suggests Jeepers Creepers material, but as far as bastards go, Frank is no Yellow Bastard (Sin City). Hell – he’s not even Fat Bastard from Austin Powers. Frank is a fraudulent foe in the face of Coley’s familial fiasco (holy eff), and the whole thing comes together like a mysterious fable told by your absent-minded granny. This one’s more like a bedtime story, lulling viewers to sleep with a particularly uninteresting “mystery.”

It all starts when a divorced city girl named Clair (Rachel Miner) heads home to Edgeport, Maine, determined to uncover the truth about her mother’s unfortunate death.

The animation specialist has picked up North American rights to A Cat In Paris directors’ Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol’s latest work.

Phantom Boy will premiere on Friday at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Gkids plans a spring 2016 theatrical release.

The story follows a boy with a special ability and an injured police officer who team up to thwart a villain’s plans to plunge the city into chaos.

Daniela Elstner of Doc & Film International, Annemie Degryse of Lumière Publishing and Eric Beckman of Gkids brokered the deal.

Jacques-Remy Girerd and Annemie Degryse produced the Folimage, Lunanime, France 3 Cinéma and Rhône-Alpes Cinéma co-production.

Gkids distributed Oscar-nominated A Cat In Paris.

In other news, Paladin has acquired Us rights to Brad Coley’s northern Gothic Frank The Bastard starring Rachel Miner and plans a limited July 24 release ahead of expansion. FilmBuff handles worldwide digital rights and will start the roll-out this summer.