Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey, British comedy icon Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous, Shrek 2) and Ade Edmondson (The Young Ones, Ronja the Robber’s Daughter) have joined the English-language voice cast of Best Birthday Ever, according to Screen International. SC Films will be bringing the adaptation of Rotraut Susanne Berner’s million-copy-selling book series to the American Film Market next month (Nov. 1-5).
Synopsis: Little Charlie, a young rabbit, is used to having his parents’ full attention. But all that changes when his baby sister Clara is born, leading to an unexpected adventure with his best friend, Monica.
Directed by Swedish filmmaker Michael Ekbald (Molly Monster), written by Aje Andrea Brucken and co-produced by Submarine (Netherland), Alexandra Schatz Filmprod (Germany) and Slugger Film (Sweden), the 2D-animated family adventure has already sold to Leonine (Germany), Gebeka (France), Big Picture (Spain, Portugal), Folketsbio (Sweden) and Periscoop (Benelux). Best Birthday Ever recently won the Audience Award at Germany’s Schlingel Film Festival.
Filmax has acquired international rights to Basque animated feature Save the Tree, which premiered this week at the Spanish Screenings in Malaga, Variety reports. The colorful CGI family adventure from directors Iker Alvarez and Haizea Pastor carries a core environmental message and warns against the dangers of our modern tech obsessions. Save the Tree opens in Spain Oct. 22 and will be shopped at American Film Market.
Synopsis: Invisible to the human eye, the pixies of the Pyrenees forests live in harmony until they are pitted against a technophile politician who wants to fill the world with the chaos of technology, internet connectivity and advertising around every corner. The Spain-Mexico-Brazil project is produced by Baleuko, Polar Studio and Tortuga Studios.
Netflix picked up U.S. distribution rights to U.S./China animated comedy co-pro Extinct, and will debut the 84-minute family flick on November 19 (additional territories to follow). Hailing from a cadre of Simpsons staffers — including director David Silverman, co-director Raymond S. Persi and writers Joel Cohen, John Frink and Rob LaZebnik — Extinct is produced by Cinesite, China Lion Films and HB Wink Animation. The voice cast features Jim Jeffries, Catherina O’Hara, Reggie Watts, Alex Borstein, Adam Devine, Rachel Bloom, Zazie Beetz and Ken Jeong.
Synopsis: Op and Ed are two adorable donut-shaped animals called “Flummels,” who accidentally time-travel from 1835 to modern-day Shanghai. There, they discover traffic, trans fats, and worst of all, that flummels are now extinct. It’s up to this bumbling pair to save themselves, save their species… and just maybe change the course of history.
Extinct is one of many titles coming to Netflix in November. “New on Netflix” animation highlights include:
11/1 | Movies – An Elf’s Story: The Elf on the Shelf, Elf Pets: Santa’s St. Bernards Save Christmas, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind | TV – Angry Birds S4 – Slingshot Stories
11/2 | TV – Ridley Jones S2
11/5 | TV – Big Mouth S5
11/6 | TV – Arcane (new episodes weekly)
11/16 | Specials – Johnny Test’s Ultimate Meatloaf Quest (interactive), StoryBots: Laugh, Learn Sing
11/18 | TV – Dogs in Space
11/23 | TV – Masters of the Universe: Revelations: Part 2 | Special – Waffles + Mochi’s Holiday Feast
11/24 | Special – Robin Robin
11/25 | TV – F Is for Family S5, Super Crooks
11/26 | Movie – Green Snake (a.k.a. White Snake 2)
11/30 | Specials – Charlie’s Colorforms City: Classic Tales with a Twist, Charlie’s Colorforms City: Snowy Stories, Charlie’s Colorforms City: The Lost Valentines Musical | Movies – The Summit of the Gods
