Four join voice cast of 3D animated "Guardians"

By Pip Bulbeck

SYDNEY (Hollywood Reporter) - Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham will lead the voice cast of the 3D animated feature "Guardians of Ga'Hoole."

The big-budget fantasy film follows Soren, a young owl enthralled by his father's epic stories of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones.

In production in Sydney and directed by Zack Snyder ("300," "Watchmen"), the Animal Logic production also will feature the voices of Aussie actors Emily Barclay, Abbie Cornish, Emilie de Ravin, Ryan Kwanten and Jay Laga'aia, as well as English actors Miriam Margolyes, Helen Mirren and Jim Sturgess.

The Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures film is scheduled for release in Australia on December 9, 2010.

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)