In October, we brought word that Montréal-based toon producer H2V Ent. was gearing up to burst onto the scene with three feature films–Monica Made in America, Piñatas and Manga Latina: Killer on the Loose– intended for adult audiences. Now the company’s Manga Latina Prods. and financing co-producer UKFS are teaming with the U.K.’s Treehouse Prods. to turn indie publisher AP Comics’ first full-color comic book, Monster Club, into an animated feature. Additionally, Manga Latina plans to make an animated movie based on Treehouse’s property Alien and Ajax.
The U.K.-Canada co-production Monster Club is being co-directed by H2V’s founder Henrique Vera-Villanueva and Phil Littler. Littler also serves as head writer. In the story, a sharp-witted, edgy high school student named Mia returns to boarding school after summer vacation and begins to notice the bizarre behavior from teaching staff, sudden disappearances among classmates and dramatic changes in longtime friends. She is then recruited by her martial arts trainer to become part of "The Organization" and to help fight against the growing threat of the Monster Club.
Alien & Ajax will be a co-production of UKFS and Treehouse Prods. in the U.K., Excalibur Animación SL in Spain and Manga Latina Prods Inc. in Canada. Henrique Vera-Villanueva, Manuel Garcia and Drew Mandigo will direct from an original story by Vera-Villanueva and Kathryn Klassen. The movie tells the story of Alen, a Alien who is anxious to leave his home planet, where he is the crown prince, because he doesn’t want the job. With pet Ajax the Dog in tow, he goes to Earth in search of beaches, babes and beer.
Both feature films will be exec. produced by H2V Ent.’s Louie Porco and Vera-Villanueva. Staffed with 250 animators, H2V is in production on the animated kiddie feature Slinky: The Magic Quilt for a fall of 2005 release and is in post-production on Monica Made in America, Piñatas and Manga Latina: Killer on the Loose. For more information, visit www.h2ventertainment.com.
