Having last month announced a multi-year production partnership, 20th Century Fox and U.K.-based CG shop Locksmith Animation have announced their first joint project will be Ron’s Gone Wrong, about a dysfunctional companion robot and the little boy who loves him anyway. The title and a first look at concept art, animation tests and plot points were presented in London earlier this week.
The film is slated for a November 2020 release, with 20th Century Fox handling worldwide distribution. A crack creative team lead by co-directors Alessandro Carloni (Kung Fu Panda 3) and J.P. Vine (story artist, Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur) will develop and produce the project end-to-end, with Locksmith’s partner Double Negative providing digital production.
Locksmith Co-Founders/CEOs Sarah Smith and Julie Lockhart said: “While we have set our bar for talent extremely high, the team assembled in London for Ron’s Gone Wrong is truly exceptional, including some of the most respected and dynamic film-makers working in feature animation today. It’s a brilliant launchpad for our UK studio, and with our partners at Twentieth Century Fox we are on an exciting journey.”
This lauded assembly includes production designer Nathan Crowley (Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight) with visual development artist Aurelien Predal (Mune, The Little Prince), character designer Carter Goodritch (Ratatouille, Despicable Me), editor David Burrows (The LEGO Movie), cinematographer David Peers (Happy Feet), and VFX supervisor Philippe Denis (Trolls). Writers are Peter Baynham (Borat, Hotel Transylvania) and Sarah Smith (Arthur Christmas), and producer is Lara Breay (Megamind, Penguins of Madagascar). Lockhart and Smith serve as Locksmith’s producers with Co-Founder Elisabeth Murdoch as executive producer, alongside Baynham.
Synopsis: Ron’s Gone Wrong tells the story of the wonderful walking, talking, digitally connected bot that sweeps the world, becoming every kid’s new Best Friend. But when an eleven-year-old boy ends up with one that doesn’t work, his attempts to teach it become a hilarious, heart-warming exploration of what real friendship means in a world of algorithms and social media.
