IDT Ent. and Vanguard Animation have begun production on Space Chimps, an animated feature film to be distributed domestically through IDT Ent.’s multi-picture deal with 20th Century Fox. Produced by Vanguard CEO and Shrek producer John H. Williams, the comedy will follow the galactic misadventures of a hapless descendant of the first chimps in space.
“We have developed this project over the past several years with extremely talented writers, and I’m thrilled with the result,” says Williams. “We’ve put enormous time and creative energy into the evolution of the characters, the look of the film and the story arc, and we’re convinced we have a franchise film.”
Space Chimps is being directed by Norton Virgien (The Rugrats Movie, Rugrats Go Wild!) and Donovan Cook (Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Mouseketeers) The duo are working from a script by Kirk DeMicco, whose credits include last year’s live-action/CG family flick Racing Stripes. He’s also co-writing with John Cleese The Twits, in development for Vanguard/Disney, and the upcoming Crood Awakening for Aardman and DreamWorks. Addition writing on Chimps is being done by Jason Venokur, Dave Goetsch, and Ross Venokur. Morris Berger, Stephen R. Brown, Janet Healy and Jerry Davis are exec producers for IDT Ent.
Character design work and storyboarding are underway in Vancouver, BC at IDT Ent. and Vanguard’s state-of-the-art CG animation studio. Odyssey Ent. has sold the film in all major international territories.
Neil Braun, IDT Ent.’s president of feature films and television, continues to serve as president and CEO of Vanguard Animation, of which IDT Ent. owns approximately 23%. Vanguard’s first independently financed animated feature film, Valiant, got a chilly reception in theaters when released domestically by Disney in 2005. The company has just wrapped production on its next CG-animated film, Happily N’Ever After, produced in association with the Berliner Film Center and Berlin Animation Fund.
IDT Ent.’s first CG feature film, Everyone’s Hero (formerly Yankee Irving) will be released by 20th Century Fox on Sept. 15. IDT Ent. is a division of IDT Corp., an international telecom, entertainment, and technology company.
Win a Funko X Lilo & Stitch Prize Pack! 
