Doctor Gonzo

Saw this on comingsoon, passing it along...


nSource: DreamWorks Animation May 28, 2009


DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. announced today its plans to release five feature films every two years, adding an additional film every other year to its existing two picture a year release schedule on a going-forward basis. The Company also announced its upcoming slate of animated feature film releases through 2012.

The Company's slate through 2012 now includes eight feature films from DreamWorks Animation's talented and seasoned creative leadership team, including five original films and three sequels based on the Company's existing blockbuster franchises, "Shrek," "Madagascar" and "Kung Fu Panda." As has been previously announced, all DreamWorks Animation feature films are now being produced in 3D.

"Our exceptionally talented and highly experienced creative team is bringing to DreamWorks Animation a significant number of imaginative, original and cutting-edge ideas today," said Bill Damaschke, Co-President of Production and President of Live Theatrical. "Having achieved a high level of success and consistency in our creative process and having in our development pipeline more great story concepts than ever before, we are very confident in our ability to add one original film every other year."

The upcoming animated films on the Company's future theatrical release schedule are currently planned as follows:

How to Train Your Dragon, which is based on the book of the same name by Cressida Cowell, will be released on March 26, 2010. It is being written and directed by Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) and Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch), produced by Bonnie Arnold (Over the Hedge, Toy Story) and will star Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig and TJ Miller. Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, the story centers around a teenager who lives on the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. But when he encounters - and ultimately befriends - an injured dragon, his world is turned upside down.

Shrek Forever After will be released on May 21, 2010. Aron Warner (producer of the "Shrek" franchise films) and Andrew Adamson ("Shrek," "The Chronicles of Narnia") are serving as executive producers on the film, which is being directed by Mike Mitchell and produced by Teresa Cheng and Gina Shay and will feature the original all-star cast, including Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas.



Oobermind (formerly titled "Master Mind") will be released on November 5, 2010. It is being directed by Tom McGrath (Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa), executive produced by Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld, produced by Lara Breay and Denise Nolan Cascino and will star Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey. When super villain Oobermind defeats his archrival Metro Man, the world should be his oyster. But instead, Oobermind falls into total despair. It turns out that life without a rival is life without a point for him. So he creates a new superhero rival. Unfortunately, the new hero wants to be a super villain too. Who can we turn to? Who has what it takes to stand up to this menace? Who will defend the innocent? Oobermind! That's who.

Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom will be released on June 3, 2011. The next chapter of the 2008 blockbuster is directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, produced by Melissa Cobb and will feature the return of the original all-star cast, including Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu and David Cross. A new villain has emerged with a mysterious weapon so powerful it threatens the very existence of kung fu. It is up to Po and the Furious Five to protect all that they know. But first, Po must confront his long lost past.

The Guardians (working title), based on the forthcoming books by William Joyce, will be released on November 4, 2011. It was brought to the Company by William Joyce and Reel FX, and is being directed by Jeff Lynch in collaboration with William Joyce and produced by Christina Steinberg and Nancy Bernstein. The world's five unlikeliest heroes - Jack Frost, North (aka Santa), Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny), Tooth (the Tooth Fairy), and Sandy (the Sandman) - must band together to stop an ancient spirit called Pitch (the Boogeyman) from plunging the world into eternal darkness.

Puss in Boots (working title) will be released on March 30, 2012. It is being directed by Chris Miller, produced by Joe Aguilar and Michelle Raimo and executive produced by Andrew Adamson, and will star Antonio Banderas as Puss In Boots and Salma Hayek as Kitty, Puss' love interest. Swords will cross and hearts will be broken in this adventure starring one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - Puss In Boots. It's a swashbuckling ride through Puss's early years as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty and the street-savvy Kitty to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.

The next chapter of the Company's hit franchise "Madagascar" is due to be released on May 25, 2012. It is being directed by Eric Darnell (Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa) and produced by Mireille Soria (Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa) and Mark Swift (Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa). Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple; King Julien, Maurice and the Penguins are along for the adventure. This time the road takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent Madagascar style!

On November 2, 2012, the Company plans to release one of three original projects currently in pre-production at the studio. The first is The Croods (working title), which is being directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco and produced by Kristine Belson and Jane Hartwell. An old school caveman must lead his family across a volatile prehistoric landscape in search of a new home. The outsized flora and fauna are challenge enough, but the real complication arises when the family is joined by an alarmingly modern caveman whose search for "tomorrow" is at odds with our hero's reliance on the traditions of yesterday. The second is Truckers (working title) based on The Bromeliad Trilogy by fantasy legend Terry Pratchett and written by Academy AwardŽ winning writer, Simon Beaufoy. A society of tiny beings lives in a department store, right underfoot and unseen by the humans that shop there. To them, the store is the entire universe. And when they discover that the store is slated for demolition, they must embark on an epic journey to find a new home ... ultimately learning that their true home is literally out of this world! And the third is an as-yet-untitled "Super Secret Ghost Project," in which DreamWorks Animation will bring you ghosts as you've never seen them before.

GoldenJCJ

Hmm, of those listed Oobermind sounds like the only one I'd be interested in. The others seem a little on the unoriginal side.

Croods sounds like it could be another installment of Ice Age, and Truckers sounds like a direct rip-off of Toy Story.

bluetoast

Ooberman sounds interesting.

fumanstan

Cool. People here love to bash Dreamworks, but honestly i've always liked Shrek and enjoyed the hell out of Kung Fu Panda and Monsters vs Aliens.

I'm really looking forward to what Chris Sanders is developing, as I loved Lilo and Stitch and was disappointed when I saw that his work on Bolt was dropped. Oobermind sounds interesting too, although i'm sure people will see heroes and just assume it's an Incredibles knock off.

RocShemp

I didn't know he was originally set to work on Bolt. What happened?

Michael Corvin

I second that Roc, provide a link or some details fumanstan. Bolt turned out pretty good. I'm curious about Sanders involvement as well.

I'm with the majority here Oobermind sounds like it could be fun.

rexinnih

Bring it all on! I'll watch.

Ash Ketchum

These little brats (of all ages) are getting way too many animated films in theaters. When I was a kid, if we averaged one good animated film in a theater per year, that was a lot. But they tended to be good ones and worth the wait. (Disney parceled out reissues every few years so as not to saturate the market.) In the wait in between, we'd watch classic cartoons on TV or the not-so-classic made-for-TV assembly-line Hanna Barbera product (which I never liked as much as I did the old Fleischer and Warner Bros. cartoons). And in the movies, we saw westerns, sci-fi, comedies, dramas, musicals, war movies, historical epics, etc. A well-balanced diet. Something you kids today don't have.

Now sit down and eat your broccoli!

fumanstan

I didn't know either but it came up somewhere else on this forum a little while ago. Apparently it used to be a project called "American Dog." Here's the blurb on Wikipedia -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_(2...m)#Development

And here's more with concept art -

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hi...rican-dog.aspx

Michael Corvin

Thanks for the links. Very interesting stuff.

RocShemp

Hmm. I loved Bolt but Lasseter's "he couldn’t take it to the place it had to be" comment makes him sound like an arrogant ass. Yes, Lasseter is talented as well but it's obvious from his comment that it was just a pissing match that Lasseter won. Still, I'm glad the finished product turned out great nonetheless.

Thanks for the link, fumanstan.

RocShemp

So after reading all that, the basic gist is Lasseter demanded that American Dog, a feature envisioned as a CG creation, be changed to traditional animation cos he wants all Disney CG pictures to come exclusively from Pixar. Sanders politely told him to fuck off. Then Lasseter kicked Sanders to the curb and had Walt Disney Feature Animation create Bolt, a CG non-Pixar release. WTF?!

Orbi-Wan Techno

Oobermind looks like the best of the bunch here, and something Pixar would come up with. The rest will probably be rentals.

Ronnie Dobbs

Pixar did come up with it and called it The Incredibles.

Michael Corvin

I dunno, Lasseter is in charge if he passes down constructive criticism that the director can't handle that comment seems like a polite way to say the director is stubborn and not a team player. Also looking at his writing credits (Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Mulan, Lilo), it wouldn't be a stretch for that to go to someone's head.

On the other hand, like you said with a record like that clashing with Lasseter and his record with Pixar could be a total ego thing on both their parts. A shame they couldn't work it out since you don't want to lose a talent like that to the competition.

Superboy

Wow... Oobermind sounds like Wanted... and Invincible.

RocShemp

Yeah, it was a total lose-lose, Michael Corvin. But reading the article fumanstan linked to, it seems Lasseter was demanding Sanders shelve a whole bunch of prep to totally redo his CG animated feature as a traditional animated feature. I'd be stubborn too if they basically told me to start over cos some guy wants to be the only CG guy in the office, as it were.

And to add insult to injury, Bolt ended up being a CG animated feature anyway. So the whole dick measuring between Lasseter and Sanders was pointless and led to the departure of a great talent from the studio.

Jon2

From everything I can gather about Pixar, they truly are a "team" oriented company. Despite that there are supervisors and dept heads galore, they sound very much like the closest real world example of a socialist worker's paradise. It seems that in nearly every aspect of a production, everyone's opinion (even the janitor's) is considered.

And therein is what I think is Pixar's weak point. Their way of working reminds me of the old saw about the difference between a horse and a camel... that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. I think this most shows up in their stories, as I think they have all suffered since the death of Joe Ranft. It appears they have no central vision to guide their stories. Kind of like Disney after Walt.

At a certain level, I'd give an arm to work with such a talented group, but as a person with the proverbial rugged individualist attitude, I don't know that I could actually stand working there.

Too true. I really liked Lilo and Stitch. It was pure Disney in so many ways, and yet so different and a breath of fresh air.

Hokeyboy

I'll take Lasseter's creative vision over Sanders's any day. Lilo & Stitch was good but it wasn't THAT good. It has the distinction of sucking the LEAST out of anything from Disney Animation from 1999-2005. Talk about damning with faint praise...

RocShemp

Except it wasn't over a difference in creative vision, Matt Millheiser. It's that Lasseter wanted Pixar to be the only CG animation team in all of Disney and therefor demanded that American Dog, an non-Pixar CG animated feature, be comepletely redone as a tradional animation feature. That's a total ego trip that required scrapping a whole boatload of prep. Had this request been made when the idea was first pitched, I can see Sanders following orders. But demanding he make such a huge shift so late in the game for no other reason than to elevate Pixar's status within the company, I'd be royally pissed. And Bolt ended up becoming a CG animated Disney release without having it come from Pixar anyway. It just makes the whole issue come across as pointless.

Why be a dick and make such demands only to then let it be a CG non-Pixar release anyway?

Hokeyboy

One report indicates that it was STORY that dictated the change. Another indicates that the MEDIUM dictated the change. One is WIKIPEDIA. The other is JIM HILL MEDIA. Trust me, NEITHER is a reliable source for anything.

RocShemp

True. I guess well never know what really happened.

Hokeyboy

I guess not. Three sides to every story, as always.

Xiroteus

Everything sounds fine.

Okay, I like the first Madagascar films, the second one more then the first, this seems to mess with them basically getting to a real home in the last film, they have more room, others like them, family for Alex, so not quite sure why they are trying to get back to New York still, I did not think they where going to do that, not that it will be bad.

GoldenJCJ

^So, you're saying there's a problem with the happy ending in part 2? If only it had been more of a downer ending the 3rd movie could have potential.