MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Animation, a division of Sony Pictures Digital, is set to begin production on its first feature length computer generated images (CGI) motion picture Open Season.

Open Season will feature the vocal talents of black comedian Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher and Debra Messing from the sitcom Will And Grace. Open Season tells the story of a 900 pound domesticated grizzly bear Boog voiced by Lawrence and a scrawny, one-horned mule deer named Elliot (Kutcher).

They are stranded together in the woods during hunting season. Boog and Elliot must work together to rally the animals of the forest and turn the tables on the hunters. Messing will voice the character of Beth, a forest ranger who rescued Boog as a cub and raised him.

Digital animation will be provided by Sony Pictures Imageworks. That company is currently producing the CGI adaptation of the children's book The Polar Express with director Robert Zemeckis. The company has also worked on Columbia Tristar's major blockbuster for the year Spider-Man 2.