![The Ark and the Aardvark [Unified PIctures]](https://www.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/The-Ark-and-the-Aardvark-new-still.jpg "The Ark and the Aardvark new still")
Several years after announcing its star-studded menagerie of voice actors, Unified Pictures’ The Ark and the Aardvark has kicked off production with newly announced partner ReDefine Animation (part of the DNEG Group).
The Ark and the Aardvark is an original project helmed by John Stevenson, who co-directed the Oscar-nominated first Kung Fu Panda installment. He has since directed Sherlock Gnomes and the BAFTA-nominated WWII animated short Middle Watch (with Aiesha Penwarden, who is currently a storyboard artist at ReDefine in London).
The upcoming movie is a re-interpretation of the tale of Noah’s Ark, told from the animals’ perspective:
An outcast aardvark by the name of Gilbert, who becomes the reluctant leader of a ragtag group of misfit animals that need to be led to the mighty ark before the impending flood. Along their journey, they band together to conquer unforeseen obstacles, and ultimately, Gilbert discovers within himself the inner strength and ingenuity to prove that in a world of “twos,” he was truly destined to be “the one.”
Announced in 2017, the voice cast is led by Miles Teller (Whiplash, Top Gun: Maverick) as Gilbert, Aubrey Plaza (The White Lotus, Little Demon) as whip-smart Brain the spider, Jenny Slate (The Great North, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) as Mitzy the narcoleptic ostrich, Craig Robinson (Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, Killing It) as mansplaining bullfrog Clyde, Rob Riggle (My Dad the Bounty Hunter, Strays) as an elephant known as “The Todd,” and Stephen Merchant (The Outlaws, Dream Corp LLC) as wise old Croc.
The DNEG Group’s current slate also includes The Angry Birds Movie 3 and the hybrid comedy, Animal Friends.
[Source: Deadline]
