Media I.M. Incorporated, a London-based content distribution company specializing in premium animation and family entertainment, is aiming to build on the success of Sunny Bunnies with the acquisition of another animated YouTube property: the 2D preschool animated series Tatty and Misifu.
Under the worldwide distribution deal, Media I.M. will now represent all five seasons (72 x 5′) of the show produced since 2020 by the Barcelona based ToyTownKids to international linear and digital platforms, excluding YouTube, which is managed directly by the producer.
Tatty is a little witch whose adventures with inseparable and faithful friend Misifu the kitten takes us to a world of fantasy and magic accompanied by equally magical allies and friends. Tatty’s world is full of beautiful characters — from Lilly, Tatty’s giggly little sister, to their grandma who is not only a witch but a superhero, too, and her goofy furry companion, Chewbarka.
“The core messages woven throughout this beautiful show are those of magic and wonder, friendship, teamwork, curiosity, perseverance and bravery. These same values will inspire us as we launch Tatty and Misifu to the international market on this new adventure,” said Irina Nazarenko, Co-Founder of Media I.M. “We will be using the very successful template we built up through our experience of discovering, creating and firmly establishing the global brand Sunny Bunnies. We are very confident our network of partners throughout the world will love Tatty and her friends as much as we do.”
The characters and stories were created and developed by ToyTownKids; the creative brain behind the show is Aldara Saucedo with Maxim Shulzhenko as commercial lead.
Tatty and Misifu was originally launched to the world as an iPad interactive book followed by the creation of the first dedicated YouTube channel in Spanish. The show was initially produced in Spanish with subsequent seasons being produced in Spanish and dubbed into English. Animation production in taking place between studios in Peru and Barcelona. To date, the little witch and her friends have garnered over 10 million current global subscribers and 4 billion plays.
“ToyTownKids is thrilled to collaborate with Media I.M. to bring Tatty and Misifu to a global audience. This partnership marks an exciting new chapter for our series, leveraging Media I.M.’s extensive network and proven track record in the international market,” said Shulzhenko. “We believe that Tatty’s enchanting adventures and the show’s core messages of friendship, kindness, and curiosity will resonate with children and families worldwide. We’re confident that this collaboration will open up new opportunities for Tatty and Misifu and set the stage for continued growth and success.”
Media I.M.’s business model, spearheaded with the Sunny Bunnies brand, has been developed and managed by the distributor for almost 10 years. Sunny Bunnies launched in 2015 on YouTube, achieving a wave of high-profile sales across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific airing in more than 190 countries. It is supported by a comprehensive L&M strategy encompassing toys, books, magazines, publishing and apparel.
Summer’s big animation blockbusters continue their hot streaks at the box office even with fall just weeks away. Pixar/Disney’s latest smash hit Inside Out 2 is climbing up the Top 10 all-time movie rankings, reaching $1,667,145,541 worldwide after the holiday weekend. In the last frame, the sequel became the first animated movie ever to hit $1 billion in overseas box office, and is already the highest-grossing movie of all time.
The new total makes Inside Out 2 the ninth-highest-grossing movie of any genre of all time, edging past Disney’s “live-action” 2019 The Lion King ($1.662B) and edging up to 2015’s Jurassic World ($1.671B). The list is currently split between four $1B+ movies and six with over $2B, including Avatar (2009) at No. 1 with $2.923B.
Disney is toasting the success of both the Pixar flick and Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which are so far the only billion-dollar blockbusters to hit theaters this year.
In other animated box office news, Illumination sequel Despicable Me 4has reached another milestone, mounting the $900M mark with $915.2M. Having helped push the franchise to infamy as the first animation collection to reach $5B, DM4 is the third highest-grossing Despicable Me movie and the fifth in the full Despicable Me/Minions roll call (so far). Domestically, the Gru revue was running for its 10th weekend over Labor Day, taking in an estimated $5.55M over four days.
Despicable Me 4 [c/o Illumination & Universal Pictures][Sources: BoxOfficeMojo, Deadline]
From the Unifrance Rendez-Vous, MIAM! distribution announced it is overseeing the international sales of the new animated adult comedy series, Mare the Mermaid. Produced by Silex Films and directed by Franco-American filmmaker Sam de Ceccatty (Lilith & Eve, Max & Millie, The Walking Dead: Paris Underground), this 10 x 22’ series is set for delivery in 2026 with France Télévisions on board.
“We are thrilled to include Mare the Mermaid in our lineup as it embodies MIAM’s dedication to offering programs that make a significant impact,” said Mélanie Errea, Head of Sales and Acquisitions at MIAM! distribution. “Its strong and relatable female characters, contemporary social themes and unique storylines make it a perfect fit for international markets. Created by a dynamic writing duo with a background in fiction, and directed by one of the most exciting voices in the industry today, the show brings a fresh perspective to animation that sets it apart. We’re eager to introduce it to our partners across the globe and find the best homes for this fantastic show.”
Mare the Mermaid tells the story of Princess Pelagie, who ditches her royal life and swims off to college under a new alias: Mare. Her mission? To escape the media’s spotlight and her mom’s watchful eye. But as she quickly learns, blending in isn’t as easy as slipping on a seaweed disguise. As she navigates a sea of secrets and fish out of-water situations, she realizes that embracing her true self is the only path forward. The series explores themes of identity, self-acceptance, and the pressures of societal expectations, all while delivering a rich comedic experience.
“Mare the Mermaid is a project that we are incredibly proud of. It’s fresh, it’s daring, and it’s unlike anything we’ve seen in animation before,” commented Silex Films producer Judith Nora. “We are thrilled to partner with MIAM! distribution to bring this series to international audiences who are looking for something new and different. We wanted to create a show that would resonate with today’s audiences by tackling contemporary issues with humor and heart. Working with such a talented team has been an inspiring journey, and I am excited to see how audiences around the world will connect with Pélagie’s story.”
The series is created and written by Iris de Jessey (Mytho Season 3, Caro Nostra, Tomorrow Is Ours) and Thomas Colineau (Greek Salad, HPI), with art direction by Ana Tortos. In a recent interview, director de Ceccatty discussed the series, emphasizing its contemporary themes and relatable characters that challenge traditional norms while providing humor and insight into modern-day issues:
Despicable Me 4 [c/o Illumination & Universal Pictures]
The film that helped Illumination’s supervillain adventures become the first animated franchise to ever cross $5 billion, Despicable Me 4will be available on Digital September 10, and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on September 24, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The latest installment comes packed with over an hour of bonus content, including two Minions mini movies, exclusive voice recording sessions with Steve Carell and Will Ferrell, deleted & extended scenes and more.
Synopsis: Gru, Lucy and their girls welcome a new member to the family — Gru Jr. — who is intent on tormenting his dad, as a new nemesis shows up and forces the family to go on the run. This latest blockbuster chapter in the biggest global animated franchise in history is packed with nonstop action, filled with Illumination’s signature subversive humor, and new dynamics with the introduction of a questionably charming team — The Mega Minions!
Directed by Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage, Despicable Me 4 stars Steve Carell (The Office, Despicable Me franchise) alongside Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live, Despicable Me franchise). The cast also includes Will Ferrell (Anchorman, Elf), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family, Griselda), Joey King (The Kissing Booth, The Act), Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Monsters vs. Aliens) and Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly, Despicable Me franchise).
Bonus Features (Digital, Blu-ray & DVD):
Game Over and Over – After stumbling upon a powered-up game controller inside Gru’s lair, the mischievous Minions discover its ability to control one another, unleashing mayhem as they compete for high scores.
Benny’s Birthday – Benny finds himself trapped in a time loop of a Minion-style birthday party, encountering uproarious mischief at every turn.
Deleted/Extended/Alternate Scenes
Class of ‘85
Minions at the Reunion
Minions at Home
Big Day Out
Karate Round 2
Gru vs. Treehouse
Defibrillator
Mega Minions Mega Mix
Mega Minions in Lockdown
Despicable Dialogue – Watch Steve Carell, Will Ferrell and the rest of the cast perform some of their silliest lines in this hilarious montage of recording booth moments!
Meet the Cast – Get to know the actors behind your favorite characters! Featuring some of your old favorites like Gru, Lucy, and their girls as well as new favorites like the Prescotts and villains Maxime and Valentina.
Steve Carell: Gru
Kristen Wiig: Lucy
Joey King: Poppy Prescott
Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Madison Polan: Gru’s Girls
Stephen Colbert & Chloe Fineman: The Prescotts
Sofia Vergara: Valentina
Will Ferrell: Maxime
Making Of – The cast and crew of Despicable Me 4 share a behind the scenes look at the creation of the fourth installment of this iconic franchise! Learn about the story, the new characters, the animation process and more!
Mega Minion Mayhem – Assemble the Mega Minions! Learn about the development of the five most unique Minions to date.
Rogues Gallery – Using the AVL’s state-of-the-art facial recognition software, we look back at the most nefarious villains from past Despicable and Minions films.
How to Draw – Join Head of Story, Habib Louati, as he shows us how to draw the Mega Minions – Dave, Mel, Jerry, Gus and Tim!
Xavi Mas (left) and Roberto Mitrani have founded the new Barcelona & Miami-based kids' distributor Liquid Rock Ent.
Liquid Rock Entertainment has launched as a distribution and brand management company with a focus on premium kids’ and family content. Headquartered in Barcelona and Miami, Liquid Rock is putting together strategic alliances with key production companies and media partners enhancing brand exposure and focusing on the audience loyalty build-up with a 360º approach.
The label is co-founded by industry professionals Roberto Mitrani and Xavi Mas, both of whom bring extensive experience in the entertainment landscape. The company will be backed up with equity investment from the Multitrade Group, allowing the necessary warranties to implement the corporate investment and growth strategies.
Mitrani, who will continue leading Ypsilon Films operations in Iberia, brings three decades of experience in the entertainment industry setting up key market partnerships and a solid track record in sales and co-productions of iconic brands as well as equity investment ventures with international partners such as Universal Cartoon Studios, Endemol, Viacom, WarnerMedia, The Walt Disney Company and BBC Films, among others.
“By combining our expertise and passion with strategic alliances, we believe we can elevate kids and family brands to new levels of success,” commented Mitrani. “Our commitment is to deliver content that not only entertains but also builds lasting connections with audiences around the world.”
For his part, Max has spent two decades managing entertainment properties in the children’s media space. His background includes founding Mas Media Brands and serving as the Head of Global Sales at PGS Entertainment. His experience in successfully launching global hits and his strong relationships with key players in the industry will play a critical role in the company’s expansion and success.
“Our objective at Liquid Rock Entertainment is to build a strong brand exposure while fostering audience loyalty through a well-rounded strategy by finding new and creative ways to thrive in these challenging times,” said Mas.
Liquid Rock plans to operate as an investor, co-producer, and distributor, carefully selecting and marketing brands with global appeal. The company’s approach involves creating robust partnerships with production companies and key media outlets, ensuring that each property of the portfolio receives the support it requires to strengthen the exposure for kids and families worldwide.
The company, which will announce its initial lineup before the end of September, will be seeking new investment opportunities at Cartoon Forum and is setting its official launch at the forthcoming MIPCOM.
In celebration of Star Trek Day (September 8), the franchise announces “Take the Chair, Make an Impact,” a global campaign encouraging fans to embrace the optimistic vision of a brighter future and to give back to the inclusive community of fans that Star Trek has fostered over the years.
On Sept. 8, 1966, Star Trek debuted for the first time on television and creator Gene Roddenberry introduced audiences to a world that championed diversity, inclusion, acceptance and hope. Fifty-eight years later, Star Trek commemorates this important day and the franchise’s enduring legacy with the fifth annual Star Trek Day celebration, providing fans with a memorable way to enjoy and celebrate all things Star Trek.
This year,Star Trek has partnered with three worldwide nonprofits that embody the values of the franchise, including Code.org, giving every K-12 student the opportunity to learn computer science; DoSomething.org, fueling young people to change the world; and Outright International, advocating for LGBTIQ inclusion and equality globally. The “Take the Chair” campaign invites fans to see themselves in the iconic U.S.S. Enterprise captain’s chair and ask themselves, “What would I do if I were setting the course to the future?” Fans will be able to engage through a digital experience available to fans worldwide on StarTrek.com. Throughout the month of September, 25% of U.S.product sales from select items on the official Star Trek shop will benefit these three nonprofits.
Fans will be able to celebrate Star Trek Day at various pop-up events, including the Taste of Chicago located in Chicago, Ill., throughout the weekend of Sept. 6, which will feature the U.S.S. Enterprise captain’s chair, while on Sept. 8 activations in Berlin, Germany, at the ALEXA Mall and in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Richmond Centre will feature a modern architectural interpretation of the captain’s chair crafted from sustainable materials. At all activations, fans are invited to “Take the Chair,” capture a photo, obtain a personalized mission and receive a limited edition enamel pin.
In honor of Star Trek Day, the premiere episodes of the following live-action and animated series as well as animated Short Treks will be available to watch for free in a special sampling occurring Sept. 7-13 on Paramount+ partner platforms (Prime Video, Apple, Roku), Paramount+’s Official YouTube page, Pluto TV and on the Paramount+ free content hub (U.S. only):
Star Trek: The Original Series – “The Cage”
Star Trek: The Next Generation – “Encounter at Farpoint Part I & II”
Star Trek: Voyager –“Caretaker Part I & II”
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – “The Emissary Part I & II”
Star Trek: Enterprise – “Broken Bow Part I & II”
Star Trek: The Animated Series – “Beyond the Farthest Star”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – “Strange New Worlds”
Star Trek: Lower Decks – “Second Contact”
Star Trek: Discovery – “The Vulcan Hello”
Star Trek: Picard – “Remembrance”
Star Trek: Short Treks – “The Girl Who Made the Stars,” “The Trouble with Edward,” “Ask Not,” “Runaway” and “Ephraim and Dot”
For additional information on “Star Trek Day” programming and initiatives, visit StarTrek.com/Day. You can follow updates on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X with @StarTrek and #StarTrekDay.
Kids’ content producer Cottonwood Media, along with ZDF, ZDF Studios, France Télévisions, and in partnership with Opéra national de Paris, announces that the 3D CGI kids animated drama series 20 Dance Street (26 x 26’) has been greenlit for production, with pre-production starting this fall. Greenlit by broadcasters ZDF and France Télévisions (the latter as part of a pre-sale), the series was first unveiled when in development during Cartoon Forum 2023.
The series has also pre-sold to RTBF (Belgium). Federation Kids & Family (key distributor of Cottonwood Media content) and ZDF Studios are handling worldwide sales.
“It’s such a pleasure to have joined forces with ZDF and France Télévisions on yet another exciting series,” shared Cottonwood Media Co-Founders David Michel, Cécile Laurenson, and Zoé Carrera Allaix. “We believe 20 Dance Street will strike a universal chord with kids as our resilient main character has overcome many ordeals in life, yet is still exemplary of a young person who takes everything in her stride. As the story evolves, many relatable themes unfold such as friendship, abandonment, joys of life, betrayal and more, that will have viewers hooked.”
The animated show is adapted from the popular French children’s book series by Elizabeth Barféty, which launched in 2016 and had since seen more than 20 novels published across Europe.
Nicole Keeb, Head of International Co-productions and Acquisitions, Children and Youth programs, ZDF, commented, “We are delighted to be part of this new, exciting, and deeply moving ballet adventure — once again collaborating with Cottonwood and ZDF Studios. Following the success of Find Me in Paris and Spellbound, our high-profile live-action series, we felt it was time to explore the world of ballet through animation, reaching a slightly younger audience. Et voilà!”
Aimed at kids ages 6-11, 20 Dance Street centers on 11-year-old Maya who leaves the Caribbean to join the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet School — unaware her destiny is about to change forever. Her resilience and altruism shine through as she is plunged into the unknown far from home, whilst moving forward through joys and sorrows, guided by a single dream, to become a prima ballerina. The series blends drama and comedy with a serialized arc that follows Maya during her first year at the ballet school.
“We were immediately captivated by the story of Maya and her friends, and by how Elizabeth Barféty’s books will be adapted for the screen, added Arne Lohmann, VP Junior at ZDF Studios. “We are confident that children all over the world will fall in love with 20 Dance Street just as we have, and that it will become an international success.”
The show features ultra-realistic dance scenes performed in motion capture by professional dancers, helping bring the CG-animated story to life with authenticity.
20 Dance Street is written and developed by Christel Gonnard and directed by Romy Yao. Designs are by David François.
Netflix today dropped a new trailer for Geeked Week 2024, taking place September 16-19, livestreaming across the ‘net.
The preview marks the launch of ticket sales for the first-ever, in-person Geeked WeekLive in Atlanta, Georgia on September 19 at 8 a.m. PT (fans not in attendance can watch the action unfold over on YouTube, Twitch and X). The event will offer sneak peeks, news and surprises from exciting genre titles. Hosts and talent scheduled to appear at live event to be announced.
Revving up the excitement, Netflix including a quick peek at ArcaneSeason 2, the award-winning, critically acclaimed League of Legends animated series from Riot and Fortiche.
As previously hinted in the teaser, animation fans can also look forward to updates on Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, and the ticketing trailer promises more from Castlevania: Nocturne, Devil Man Cry, Sakamoto Days, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep and Zack Snyder’s Norse mythology epic Twilight of the Gods.
Live-action highlights include the comics adaptations One Piece, The Sandman and Wednesday as well as the remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the next level of Squid Game.
Highlighting the event’s fan-focus, footage from these hotly anticipated new and returning shows is interspliced with fan art and cosplay from real-life geeks!
This year, for the first time, the best fans (as voted by other fans) will be inducted into a permanent Geeked Hall of Fandom as a testament to their amazing cosplay, art crafts and creations around Netflix Geeked titles. The fans with the most votes will be honored on stage during Geeked Week Live and presented by Netflix talent with a custom award. Voting begins September 9 on GeekedWeek.com.
The week-long celebration will also include special experiences like Geeks Who Drink trivia on September 16, Atlanta-area events like Geeked Ink with creator-collab Netflix-inspired tattoos on September 18 from 11-7 p.m. ET at Apocalypse Tattoo in Buckhead, a Twilight of the Gods fan screening with co-creator and executive producer Zack Snyder on September 18, and event attendees can also visit the Netflix Has Games lounge to play the latest games.
Director Chris Sanders and his team discuss the making of DreamWorks’ eagerly anticipate fall movie,The Wild Robot.
Latvian wunderkind Gints Zilbalodis takes us behind the scenes of his Annecy prize-winning feature, Flow.
All about the new prime-time animated series Universal Basic Guys which joins the Fox Sunday night lineup in September.
Disney’s new animated show Kindergarten: The Musical raises the curtain on some fun animation for preschoolers.
Zack and Deborah Snyder detail the craftsmanship of their new Netflix series, Twilight of the Gods.
Mattson Tomlin breathes a new soul into the machine in the new Netflix/Production I.G series, Terminator Zero.
Director Fuga Yamashiro takes us behind the scenes of Science SARU’s wild new show, Dan Da Dan.
Previews of the fall’s big animation events, including Pixelatl Festival (Guadalajara), Ottawa Intl. Animation Festival, Cartoon Forum (Toulouse) and MIPJunior (Cannes).
Deadpool & Wolverine [Marvel Entertainment]
Wētā FX vfx supervisor Daniel Macarin takes us behind the scenes of Marvel’s summer blockbuster, Deadpool & Wolverine.
Richard Williams and Mo Sutton's new book "Adventures in Animation" details the acclaimed director's career.
“[Robert Zemeckis] asked, ‘But isn’t it more work?’ And I replied, ‘What do you think animation is? It’s nothing but work. That’s our job, turning things in space.’”
— Richard Williams
My next huge opportunity came in 1986 with Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Disney had developed the project for seven years and Robert Zemeckis worked on it when he was younger. Then he said, “I’ll see you guys later,” and left.
At that time Bugs Bunny was the top animation character in the world so why, for a start, would they try and do a grey rabbit? So the thing languished. Then Zemeckis did Back to the Future, which was very big. He was a protégé of Steven Spielberg and wanted to get the rights from Disney, so they — Spielberg and Disney — had made a temporary marriage and were looking for an animation director. But I didn’t want to do it.
I said to Zemeckis, “I love the early Disney movies — Snow White, Dumbo, Bambi, Pinocchio, Fantasia. But I thought the animation in Mary Poppins was awful. The cartoons look pasted on. They look like they’re on a piece of glass in front of the characters. You’re mixing the two realms and they don’t fit. It demeans the animation and it also wrecks the live action. This pasted-on business is just no good.”
Best Bunny: Based on Gary Wolf’s novel ‘Who Censored Roger Rabbit?,’ the 1988 movie ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ won Academy Awards for Best Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Effects and a Special Achievement Award for Richard Williams.
Penguins and Eyelines
He replied, “But have you seen Star Wars:Return of the Jedi, with the motorbikes flying through the forest?’
He said, “Industrial Light & Magic has figured out a way of printing the cartoon thing, the drawn thing, so that it fits into the live action. They expose it differently, so you’ve got the different levels working.” And I said, “Well, then we can do it.” And then Zemeckis replied, “In Mary Poppins, the penguins are actually animated beautifully because they got the eyelines right.”
So when Bob Hoskins is looking at the animated characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, you believe he is interacting with them. He had this wonderful ability to stop his eyes right at the belt line which was at the level with the Rabbit’s eyeline. I asked him, “How did you get that concentration?” He said, “Don’t make me think about it or I won’t be able to do it.”
Zemeckis said that the animation directors always insisted on having a locked-off camera, so the camera was still, which meant that the animators didn’t have to turn the characters much. He told me, “I’m trying to shoot a modern movie where the camera’s moving all the time,” and I said, “That’s no problem.” He said, “But all the animation directors we’ve talked to say you have to have it locked off.” And I said, “Because they’re lazy bastards.”
He asked, “But isn’t it more work?” And I replied, “What do you think animation is? It’s nothing but work. That’s our job, turning things in space.”
Roger Rabbit character turnaround
It was a very expensive technique, this kind of moving camera technique, because it meant that we had to print every frame of the film that we were going to animate. They would print it at Industrial Light & Magic in San Francisco, mail it over to us and we’d have these big drawings, big pictures for each frame — you’d just put a piece of paper on it, and draw a rabbit in there.
Animation is time-consuming, but that was really time-consuming — that’s why there were so many people on it. After every hand-drawn film, they store all the drawings, and with Roger Rabbit they had about three times as many as normal.
It wasn’t 3D, more like 2-and-a-half D. The animation worked because the characters weren’t quite round. We back-lit, with a sort of rim light, and I’d have to draw them on. It was quite a simple thing, as I figured out. Because a lot of the live action was blurred, the images were blurred naturally. At 24 frames a second, it was just going to be a blur. So they said, “You can’t put a hard-edged piece of animation into that,” and I said, “Well I already have — strangely enough, on a commercial I animated for Disney, with all the Disney characters playing football” — and I’d broken all the rules.
I said, “I can prove it, let’s give it a try.” So we did a test sequence — a sort of obstacle course the Rabbit would have to deal with — in the live-action world. We filmed an actor in a back alley with beer cans and neon lights flashing and I drew the Rabbit coming down the stairs and he lit up as a car went past, then bashed into a bunch of garbage cans at the bottom. All we did was just put a string on the garbage cans, pulled them away, and it looked as though the Rabbit had knocked them over. And then a marvelous guy called Ken Ralston at Industrial Light & Magic did all the effects and it worked. The two realms came together.
Michael Eisner, who headed Disney then, was very dubious about the thing. So he took the test — it was about a minute and a half — home to his private screening room and invited the neighborhood kids in and ran it and said, “Do you think I should invest in this?” And all the kids said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” And that’s how they made Roger Rabbit.
Rabbit in the Fridge
Caricature of Robert Zemeckis
My favorite part of the film is the opening. Bob Zemeckis used to come in and say, “You’re not still working on that opening are you?” And I’d say, “Well.” And he’d say, “Well, just do a good solid Tom and Jerry, just do it like that. Don’t make a big deal of it.” Of course, I realized that this was the part of the film that was being left to me, so I started working at night on it, and Bob came in at one point and said, “Oh God, Dick, you’re not still working on that opening? You know, if they catch you doing it, they’ll fire you.” Translation: I’ll fire you. But I’d done so much of it that it went through, and I was very pleased. I knew it was going to work. I did the transition to the live action with the Rabbit in the fridge and the baby throwing his fit and he gooses the girl and so on. Although I was directing the animation of the entire film, that was the end of my own animation — it was my favorite bit, because there wasn’t any live action.
But I also worked all over the picture. For instance, when Bob Hoskins is driving his car, he was sitting on a sort of makeshift kind of car, without sides or anything, and we drew a car on top of it, every frame. Or when the Rabbit’s drinking whisky — George Gibbs made a thing like a little lever and the lever ‘drank’ whisky, a glass of whisky. So you’d have this crazy-looking thing and the actor would be there and I’d draw a rabbit over the top of the lever. And then, as for the Rabbit, we’d do it in pencil and then they’d Xerox that on to celluloid, then they’d paint the thing and then we’d give extra little mattes to make it look round. It was very simple. Afterwards, they went around saying how difficult it was. But it was just back-breaking work.
I ended up with a Special Achievement Oscar and sharing the Special Effects one with George Gibbs and Ken Ralston. So, I got two Oscars for that one, and by then, we were really rolling.
Adventures in Animation: How I Learned, Who I Learned From and What I Did with It by Richard E. Williams and his wife Imogen Sutton, was published on Aug. 29 by Faber & Faber (240 pages, £24.45). The world-renowned animator and author of The Animator’s Survival Kit revisits highlights of his beloved work, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, A Christmas Carol and The Cobbler and the Thief and shares anecdotes about his inspiring life and career in this entertaining and inspiring volume.
The images used in this article are independent of the book and are not all included in the volume.
Five years ago, Latvian animator and director Gints Zilbalodis dazzled the world with his first animated feature project, Away, a beautiful work that he wrote, directed, animated and scored. The self-taught animation whiz, who created his first Flash-animated short when he was only eight years old, has outdone himself with his sophomore effort. Flowis a sweeping cinematic experience that follows a loner cat trying to survive in a flooded planet with the aid of some of his animal friends.
The dialog-free film was universally praised when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival (in the Un Certain Regard sidebar) and at Annecy in June, where it won the Jury and Audience Awards for best feature, Best Original Music and the Gan Foundation Distribution Award. We recently caught up with the director to find out more about his labor of love, which is sure to become an awards-season favorite in the next few months.
Gints Zilbalodis: I guess it all started with the short film I made many years ago, which was about a cat who was afraid of water. For the feature, I wanted to focus more on a group: It’s not just a cat, it’s a bunch of other animals. I guess it was intentional to come up with a story that reflected my own experience of working with a group for the first time and facing your fears. The cat in the movie is also somewhat afraid of other animals. I also knew there’d be no dialog in the film, and I wanted to tell a story with just animals who also behave like animals. That meant I could be more expressive with the other tools — the camera, the animation, the sound and music. It was good to have these limitations as it helps you figure out the narrative without dialogue.
You began work on the film in 2019. How did you go about putting your team together after working solo for your first movie?
It’s been over five years — which is a long time, but not too long for a feature. That includes writing all the scripts and the funding and development work. We did everything except the character animation in Latvia, which was done in France and Belgium. The preproduction, music, animatic character designs, effects and lighting were all done in Latvia by the studio I founded for this movie, called Dream Well Studio. The film’s animation was produced in France by Sacrebleu and in Belgium by Take Five. Overall, I would say about 40 to 50 people worked on the movie, but not all of them worked on it all the time. Some worked on it for only a few weeks.
Cat’s Eye Vision: Gints Zilbalodis initially came up with the movements of the camera for each scene of the movie to flesh out the project’s detailed storytelling.
What was it like for you to oversee this team and work with other experts after your first movie, which was made by you alone?
Some things were easier and some were more difficult when you have a bigger team because the movie is a lot more ambitious and bigger than my first film, which had very few characters and a slower pace. It also had a much simpler look. In Flow, we had many more characters and a lot of water, which is very complicated to animate. It would be impossible to do this movie alone, so I had make a plan and make sure that everyone was on the same page. I know that our process was different from your typical animation studio’s. Our film felt very independent; I was really open to everyone’s idea … Sometimes the animators would suggest to do something differently, and I would adjust the camera to make a scene work better. The core of the team was perhaps only four or five people, including me. We had a small budget — about 3.5 million euros, or about $4 million — so we had to figure out the best way to use our resources. Luckily, everyone on the team was very passionate about the movie, and they were all really invested in it.
Away was created in Maya. Which tools did you use to make Flow?
We did the whole thing in Blender, which is a real-time render engine similar to Unreal. It allowed us to work a lot faster and helped me experimenting with the lighting of the scenes. It’s great because you don’t have to wait for a long time for the renders: I could just play around and see if something works or not. We didn’t use any storyboards, and I did all the animatics myself in 3D using Blender. I could plan out the camera shots, as the camera plays a big role in the movie and it’s moving in and in depth, and we have these long takes. The scenes had a very complicated choreography and would be impossible to draw as storyboards. It almost brought an improvisational aspect to the animatic phase. I could block the scenes and try different cameras, check to see if a wide angle would work, etc. It also impacted the editing and made the process closer to working on a live-action or documentary film, where you have lots of footage and then you can pick and choose the right angle. Then, when you have figured it all out, you can go back and polish the camerawork so that you can pick the best angle for a shot.
The Future Is Feline: Writer-director Gints Zilbalodis used Blender to create the immersive, water-filled world of a cat and his animal companions in ‘Flow.’
What were some of the animated or live-action films or TV shows that inspired you early on?
I have a lot of influences, not just from animation but a wide variety of sources. In terms of animation, it’s Studio Ghibli. I find it so interesting that Hayao Miyazaki starts production even before the storyboards are finished. They kind of figure things out during production. For us, it was important not to waste any time or resources, so there are not deleted scenes or unused animation. However, our process was quite organic.
I also love the way filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, Alfonso Cuarón and Martin Scorsese use the camera to be more expressive. For our movie, we wanted it to feel as if there’s a real camera person capturing how these animals are interacting with the world around them. It was important to create a sense of immersion with long takes. You can get very close to the characters and almost feel like you are the cat, in a way.
You address the real dangers our planet is facing in terms of climate change in your movie. What would you like audiences to take away from the film?
The whole backdrop of the movie is a massive flood and climate change, and that is relevant to the issues we are facing. But I think it’s also quite universal because it’s really more about the characters and how they interact with each other. They either support each other or fight, but they have to find a way to work together despite their differences. Our cat is running away from himself, and he has all these fears and insecurities. But he has to accept himself and learn how to live with the other. That’s why I feel the movie is quite personal to me. Even when you make something that is quite universal, you need to have this personal aspect and connection to the story. I feel that’s what people will connect with, even if they don’t care about animals or the story!
And of course, we have to mention that you composed the film’s music, too!
I never studied music, and the first time I did the music for anything was for my first movie, Away. It was very basic and I created it on my computer with some samples. It was quite minimalistic and used repeated patterns and layers. For Flow, I tried to do it myself, but I soon realized that I needed some help (which is very appropriate for the theme of the movie!). So we brought in a professional musician who has written many like scores and performed in orchestras. We needed music early on: I created themes and sketches before the script was finished. It helped me figure out the story. This way, you don’t have to use temp music as you’re editing. You have original music as you’re creating the animatic. Then, we brought in composer Rihards Zalupe, who fine-tuned everything and made sure themes really developed throughout the film. It was really amazing that we had like a full orchestra who recorded everything. When you see the movie in a theater, you can really sense the difference.
Finally, we get to the most important question: Are you a cat or a dog person?
I used to have a cat, but that was quite a while ago when I made my short film about a cat. But currently, I have a dog and that’s a different experience: I do enjoy the company of dogs, but I am more like a cat as I like to do what I want to do and don’t like to follow any orders!
Janus Films and Sideshow will release Flow in North America on November 22. The movie is also screening in competition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in September.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and independent Spanish animation company Ánima Kitchenthas partnered for the second season of its highly successful preschool series, Cuquin. The new season will feature 20 five-minute episodes, currently in production at Ánima Kitchent’s studios in the Canary Islands and Madrid. The 3D adventure comedy series is planned to premiere in mid 2025 on Max and Cartoonito in Latin America.
“The first season of Cuquin exceeded all expectations, and we’re thrilled to continue this journey with such incredible partners,” said Jaime Jimenez, VP of Content Strategy, Original Production WBD in Latin America. “We’re confident that Cuquin, Clementina, and Cyan will continue to connect with the hearts of kids across Latin America through their amazing adventures and friendship. As we move forward with this new season, we reinforce our commitment to deliver captivating stories, push creative boundaries and offer our audiences even more of the most compelling content they can get.”
Ánima Kitchent’s Rodrido Pineda, the show’s executive producer, added, “Cuquin’s boundless curiosity makes him a unique character who transcends generational and cultural barriers, teaching children about teamwork, imagination, and navigating the digital world. As an independent Spanish production company, we are thrilled that audiences in Latin America have connected with Cuquin on Max and Cartoonito. We thank Warner Bros. Discovery for their trust in building a preschool universe centered on curiosity, imagination and friendship.”
About the Show: Cuquin is a curious and happy-go-lucky toddler who attends a nursery full of fun and games. His endless curiosity and need to explore often lead him and his friends into trouble, but he is resourceful and always finds a way out. Cuquin is spontaneous and reacts instantly to whatever he wants, but he is also caring and considerate when it comes to his friends. He is determined and tenacious, always willing to help his friends achieve their goals. Nothing is impossible when Cuquin is around!
Season 2(20 x 5’) follows the fun adventures of Cuquin, Clementina and Cyan, three exuberant toddlers who love playing together at nursery. They are full of ideas and things they want to do or play with — but the day’s schedule sometimes means they can’t immediately do what they want. Waiting is frustrating, especially when you’re one and a half but to pass the time Cuquin, Clementina and Cyan use their imaginations and move from the classroom into an exciting adventure where the pursuit of their desire continues. Their favorite toys Robi the robot, Trex the dinosaur and Ghost the cheeky class rabbit join in the fun! Packed with slapstick action and comedy, the children’s adventures pass the time until they return to the classroom and it’s finally time to do what they want!
Based on the highly successful 1960s Spanish children’s brand The Telerin Family, the animated series Cleo & Cuquin (78 x 7′) launched in 2018 and became the #1 series in the preschool category in Mexico, Spain and several Latin American countries. Simultaneously, children’s songs and episodes starring Cuquin were produced and published on YouTube with great success. With content produced for digital platforms and VOD services, the Cuquin spin-off premiered on HBO Max and Cartoonito in April 2023.
For Season 2 of Cuquin, experienced preschool comedy writers Lisa Akhurst (PJ Masks, Pip and Posy, Bob the Builder, Postman Pat) and Marc Seal (PJ Masks, Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy, Mike the Knight) continue as the head writing team.
DNEG, an international animation and VFX studio which has contributed to hit movies such as Oscar nominee 'NImona' [Netflix], has announced layoffs in the wake of the 2023 strikes and recent tax credit reduction.
In March, the Government of Quebec announced significant changes to its animation and visual effects tax credit. Effective May 31, the base rate of the tax credit was increased from 20 to 25%, but at the same time, a 65% cap was introduced, which IATSE International points out is a sudden and significant cut.
This cap, the labor org says, has resulted in devastating job losses for what was a thriving industry in the Province. On August 28, DNEG, a seven-time Academy Award winning visual effects and animation studio, announced it would be making significant staffing changes in the next few weeks (hinted at earlier this year). The cuts to Quebec’s tax credit pile on to the ongoing effects of last year’s actors’ and writers’ strikes. IATSE represents many of the workers in Canada’s animation and VFX industry.
“It is shocking to me that the Quebec Government, which has always been a huge supporter of the arts and arts workers, would not consult with the industry prior to making such a significant change,” said IATSE Director of Canadian Affairs John Lewis. “The consequences have already been devastating for the Province. We’re seeing a talent and economic bleed. Highly skilled workers are making plans to leave and studios are closing their doors and relocating.”
IATSE says the union has been meeting with animation and VFX workers to discuss impacts and potential supports but urges the Government of Quebec to reverse the cap “before the damage to the Province becomes permanent.”
Grab your pumpkin spice lattes, because Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween” returns for a frightfully delightful lineup of Halloween favorites that will keep viewers entranced all month long.
Eerily epic Halloween films ranging from classics like Casper, Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmasand Edward Scissorhands to modern fan favorites like 2023’s Haunted Mansion (broadcast debut), Cruella and Ghostbusters: Afterlife fill Freeform’s beloved lineup.
Dastardly double features include Hocus Pocus/Hocus Pocus 2 (broadcast debut), Monsters Inc./Monsters Universityand The Incredibles/The Incredibles 2.
Timeless favorites include the Freeform premieres of Arachnophobia, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Muppets From Space
Tim Burton fans, rejoice! The lineup features a marathon of Tim Burton’s ghoulishly grand films on Sunday, Oct. 13, including 2019’s live-action Dumbo, Frankenweenie and Dark Shadows, among other classics.
In need of a good binge session? Season one of the Disney+ hit series Goosebumps will air in its entirety on Friday, Oct. 25.
Last year’s event reached 24 million viewers, and Freeform ranked as a Top 5 cable entertainment network among Adults 18-34 (#2) and Adults 18-49 (#5).**
So take a peek inside the cauldron to experience a month’s worth of opportunities to watch all of these spine-chilling films and shows. It’s Halloween time!
Below is a night-by-night list of the programming airing during “31 Nights of Halloween”:
Saturday, Oct. 19
7:30 a.m. EDT / PDT – “Edward Scissorhands”
10:00 a.m. EDT/PDT – “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”
1:15 p.m. EDT/PDT – “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
4:30 p.m. EDT/PDT – “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”
8:15 p.m. EDT/PDT – “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
11:30 p.m. EDT/PDT – “Dark Shadows” (2012)
International prodco and rights business Blue Ant Studios and Canadian pre- and post-production services studio Lakeside Animation Studios announced the animated short film The Death of James (13 min.) will premiere at the 43rd Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) this September. The 2D film was created and directed by Toronto-based animator Sam Chou.
Inspired by true events and set in Vancouver’s West End, The Death of James follows the poignant journey of two young friends, Kevin and Ellery, as they face the heart-wrenching decision to euthanize their beloved pet ferret. With a blend of humor and heartbreak, the film delves into themes of death, euthanasia and the uncertainties of the afterlife, all seen through the eyes of characters navigating these challenges for the first time.
Voices are provided by Isaiah Lehtinen (I Like Movies) as Ellery, Kyle Bailey (Heartland) as Kevin and Amanda Brugel (The Handmaid’s Tale) as the empathetic veterinarian. The piece is a collaboration between Chou and award-winning writer Ellery Vandooyeweert.
“The Death of James is a true story, capturing a profound moment between two inseparable friends. The film has been over 10 years in the making, and it’s incredibly special to see it finally come to life in a city that played such a pivotal role in its creation,” said Chou.
The short is a coproduction between the animation teams at Blue Ant Studios (formerly Look Mom! Productions) and Lakeside Animation Studios. Chou is the creator and director. For Blue Ant Studios, Mark J.W. Bishop, Matthew Hornburg and Josh Bowen serve as executive producers; Stephanie Claydon and Stephen Sloan are supervising producers. For Lakeside Animation, Louri Stepanov and Artem Vasilyev are executive producers. Blue Ant Studios oversees all international distribution.
A special presentation of the animated film anthology She Creates Change will screen at New York City’s Quad Cinema from September 13-19. All proceeds from the family-friendly engagement will go to benefit Room to Read, a nonprofit fighting for children’s literacy and gender equity around the world.
Synopsis: A celebration of gender equality and women’s empowerment through education, She Creates Change tells the true stories of six courageous girls from historically low-income communities in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Vietnam as each of them confronts challenges unique to their lives — such as harassment, food scarcity or early marriage — by discovering her power and advocating for herself and her future. Each girl becomes the hero of her own story and creates lasting change in her community.
Emmy winner Martha Adams (Girl Rising and We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls around the World) serves as series director and producer for the project. Prodco Nexus Studios tapped a roster of diverse women directors and artists from around the world to create the shorts, including Siqi Song (Sister), Hannah Lau-Walker (Yeah, I’m good thanks.), Bonnie Forsyth (Femme Enfant), Claudia Chinyere Akole (ChinyereComic), Neeraja Raj (Meow or Never) and Prashanti Aswani (Machi). Executive producers are pioneering women filmmakers Brenda Chapman (Brave) and Jill Culton (Abominable).
Following its Cannes first-look debut earlier this year, the animated feature project The Land of Sometimes announces that comedy icon Mel Brooks (Space Balls, Blazing Saddles) and Asa Butterfield (Sex Education, Ender’s Game) have joined the voice cast. The U.K. film is produced by Two Daughters Entertainment and Nottage Productions, based on the audiobook by Francesca Longrigg.
Brooks and Butterfield join pre-Cannes cast additions Henwick (Glass Onion) and Alisha Weir (Abigail), as well as previously announced stars Ewan McGregor (Star Wars franchise, Christopher Robin), Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter franchise, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland), and the late Terry Jones (Monty Python) in one of his last roles.
Synopsis: On Christmas Eve, twins Alfie and Elise are given a watch by their mother, which they realize is a special gift that originally belonged to their father who is missing at war. But this is no ordinary watch, it’s a Wish Watch!
That evening they are visited by The Wish Collector, an enigmatic and energetic character who whisks them away on a journey to The Land of Sometimes, an incredible place where all four seasons pass in just one day. Throughout this magical, musical adventure, the twins will discover a strange world, filled with the most unusual and charismatic creatures, but will also learn that they’ll need to be careful what they wish for…
The Land of Sometimes is directed by Leon Joosen (Moley, Saving Santa) from a screenplay by producer Tony Nottage (Saving Santa). Somu Mohapatra, CEO of Cosmo-Giantwheel Animation Studios, is head of animation on the project. Executive producers are Bonnie Arnold (How to Train Your Dragon), Alan Yentob (Billy Elliott), Two Daughters’ CEO James Reatchlous and Managing Director Simon Bobin and Kaleidoscope CEO Spencer Pollard.
Focus Features today unveiled a new theatrical poster for Piece by Piece, the LEGO animation biopic about the life and career of music superstar Pharrell Williams. Releasing on October 11, the CG movie invites audiences to “turn up the volume on your imagination.”
Ahead of its wide release, Piece by Piece will premiere this weekend at the Telluride Film Festival, and will screen at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival in the official selection as the Closing Night film.
The film is directed and produced by Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?), and features the voices of multi-Grammy winner and Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated singer-songwriter-producer Williams, as well as Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z and Snoop Dogg.
Piece by Piece is produced in partnership between LEGO Group, Focus Features, Neville’s Tremolo Productions, Pure Imagination Studios and Williams’ creative collective i am OTHER. Williams, Neville, Mimi Valdés and Caitrin Rogers are producers. The executive producers are David Lawrence, Shani Saxon, Jill Wilfert and Keith Malone.
Watch the previously released trailer in our earlier post here. You can read about the making of this buzzy movie in the November issue (No. 344) of Animation Magazine.
Veteran writer and director Chris Sanders was fired up to adapt Peter Brown’s young adult novel The Wild Robot for DreamWorks Animation. But he felt the movie needed to look as different as the story felt to him when he first read it.
“Early on, we had some beautiful development art, these loose paintings that were explorations of different places in the story, and I was so enamored [with] the looseness and the impressionistic vibe of these exploratory paintings that I approached Raymond Zibach, our production designer, and I asked him, ‘How close to this can the final film look? Could the final film be indiscernible from these development sketches?’ And he said, ‘I’ll see what I can do,’” says Sanders, co-director of such hits as Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon (both with Dean DeBlois) and The Croods (with Kirk DeMicco).
‘I think we reconnected with something that we lost connection with so long ago, and I think that The Wild Robot is nothing but strengths.’
— Director Chris Sanders
“There came a day — and I’m not making this up — that I was sitting in color dailies, and I was looking at what I thought was yet another of those development paintings, and someone pushed a button and it began to move … And I had a moment of panic. I thought, ‘Have we gone too far?’ It was a radically new look,” he says. “But the moment that I saw the matching characters fused with that background and saw the acting and saw the whole thing as a completed scene, I realized, no, it’s quite the opposite. We have achieved something groundbreaking.”
Audiences will get to judge for themselves when The Wild Robot arrives in theaters September 27. Sanders wrote and directed the adaptation, which stars Lupita Nyong’o as the voice of Roz, a robot whose crate is lost in shipping and crashes against the craggy shore of a wooded island.
Caring Castaway: Based on Peter Brown’s popular book, ‘The Wild Robot ‘centers on the adventures of the robot Roz, who learns to adapt to her surroundings when she is stranded on a remote island.
Flight Instructions
Far from any human contact, Roz’s programming prompts her to adapt to the natural environment, and she finds a mission that fulfills her programming parameters when a goose egg hatches in her hand, revealing a small and weak gosling named Brightbill, voiced by Kit Connor. Roz takes on the challenge of helping Brightbill grow strong enough to eat and swim and learn to fly well to migrate with his flock.
With help from a fox named Fink, voiced by Pedro Pascal, and a possum named Pinktail, played by Catherine O’Hara, Roz raises Brightbill only to face the uncertain future of returning to the factory where she was made.
Storyboard of Roz encouraging Brightbill to join the flock’s migration.
The final scene.
Sanders says he connected with the story because it’s open, has strong emotions and has fully realized characters while avoiding unnecessary complexities.
“This one had a simpler arc to it that I thought would be perfect for the kind of resonance that I was feeling when I read it,” he says. “[The characters] exist more in a gray zone; they’re not really heroes, nor are they villains. They are characters in difficult situations where they need to grow and change in order to triumph wherever they are.”
‘It was about figuring out what Roz’s larger journey was and how we could to create the conflict and the emotion that we need from start to finish.’
— Head of story Heidi Jo Gilbert
Sanders says the visuals were essential to the development of the project, and he was encouraged that DreamWorks had stepped away from traditional CG animation toward a more artistic look in its recent features, The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
“For me, it was necessary that we have a sophisticated look because the nature of the story — a robot in the wilderness amongst animals — could play way, way, way too young, and it is not a young story,” he says. “Visually, it is critical that people see this and instantly understand that this is something different.”
Painterly Vision
The Wild Robot delivers on that promise, rendering Roz and the natural world around her in impressionistic tones with painterly light and soft edges. The environments, he says, were created without geometries and were completely hand-painted. In fact, every character and surface in the movie is hand-painted, except for Roz when she first arrives on the island at the start of the film.
“[Roz] has a CG surface like we’re used to in the very beginning, and as she progresses through the film, that surface is now being replaced with brush strokes because she’s getting dented and scratched and she’s getting mildew and she’s getting a patina, and she’s beginning to belong to the island,” Sanders says. “I believe we have upward of 30 different versions of Roz.”
Butterfly scene color storyboard and rough (below) by Steven MacLeod
Roz was a challenging character to assemble, with inspiration coming from multiple sources. The movie retained the simple silhouette of the illustrations in Brown’s novel, but her design and how she moves were developed hand in hand, says Jakob Hjort Jensen, head of character animation. Although it was initially thought a humanoid rig could work, the story called for her to do things like mimicking animals, and a more bespoke rig was required, Jensen says.
“Even before we had a rig and even a final model, I did some storyboard explorations just to figure out, ‘Could this design do that?’” Jensen says. “And true enough, it probably could, so we gave that to the rigging department, and they totally killed it. It’s amazing.”
Inspired by the Silent Masters
Roz also has no mouth or moving facial features. To convey her evolving emotions, the animators studied such masters of pantomime as Buster Keaton, the stone-faced star of Hollywood’s silent era. That was complemented by glowing LED lights on her body and head that pulse and change color to reflect her emotion and lenses for eyes that hint at deeper thoughts.
Underneath it all was Oscar winner Nyong’o’s subtle and confident voice performance. “Lupita worked so hard to find that voice — that was not just out of the gate,” Sanders says. “She worked very hard to develop the Roz that we hear and did multiple passes at every scene, because we would iterate.”
Story concept with Pinktail, Brightbill and Roz
The story itself required several iterations. Sanders’ early drafts followed the book’s episodic nature, which required some reworking to make it work for the screen. “It was very true to the book, but I feel like we weren’t getting a true three-act structure where we built to a climax and paid it off,” says Heidi Jo Gilbert, head of story. “To me, it was kind of figuring out what is Roz’s larger journey, and how can we add, how can we shape the world around her to create the conflict and the emotion that we need from start to finish?”
Gilbert says the answer came from isolating Roz and making things less convenient for her — making her figure out more on her own. Her tasks of helping Brightbill eat, swim and fly are achievable tasks that, in the end, don’t satisfy Roz the way she expects, and those emotions set up her motivation for the rest of the movie. “I feel like once we narrowed in on that journey, it wasn’t stopping and starting — it was threading that right through the whole film.”
One aspect of the story that snuck up on Sanders was Roz’s role as a mother figure. “Frankly, I didn’t even realize it until I was talking to someone very recently, and they mentioned this is a predominant thing in animated films where mothers are missing,” he says. “And oddly enough … that may have been a factor that I wasn’t even conscious of when I said I wanted to work on it, but it’s certainly something that I latched onto in the story.”
The animal characters stand out from other animated features in that they don’t wear pants or have jobs — instead, they move like animals. Zibach says their performances are anthropomorphized only from the head up.
Raymond Zibach
Jakob Hjort Jensen
Jeff Hermann
“There’s just enough, to me, stylization of the proportions that they feel like unique characters, but they give you the impression of what a real [animal] is,” Zibach says. “That word, impressionism, is really what drove everything — does it still feel like the right thing when we’re done?”
Zibach says the island was inspired by real places such as Olympia National Park in Washington state. “My early drawings were of the cave and the coast that she first wakes up on, and then views of the of the island itself, and it was really trying to find an iconic shape to the island, which, like I said, you don’t really get to see.”
Brushes with Greatness: Director Chris Sanders and production designer Raymond Zibach worked closely to develop a radically new look for ‘The Wild Robot,’ which was inspired by the film’s development art.
In contrast, the futuristic world Roz comes from rejects the common postapocalyptic aesthetic for an optimistic view more familiar to the golden age of science fiction. “Syd Mead was designing the heck out of everything, and everything looked great — it looked so optimistic,” Zibach says. “And that seemed like a great future world for her to come from and then plop her in the middle of a rugged Island.”
Producer Jeff Hermann says the cast and crew were resilient, starting work during the COVID-19 pandemic and then navigating strikes by the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild. “The writers’ strike didn’t affect us much, but the actors’ strike certainly did,” he says. “There was a six-month window where we couldn’t record our actors, and we were right in the thick of production and had our full animation team on.”
Revved Up by Roz
This created a high level of excitement, with demand to work on the feature at DreamWorks.
“So animating Roz and animating the animals in this film was an utterly unique experience for the animators,” he says. “They were so excited that I went to animation dailies to launch scenes and several times the animator interrupted me as I began to describe the scene, and he said, ‘Actually, I already animated it.’ And I said, ‘Wait, what?’ That speaks to how excited everyone was and how motivated everybody was on this project.”
The final result has audiences excited too, with successful promotion stops at Annecy and Comic-Con.
Sanders sees the movie as bringing animation full circle, restoring the artistry of hand-drawn features with the potential and innovation of CG. “I think we reconnected with something that we lost connection with so long ago,” he says. “And I think that The Wild Robot is nothing but strengths.”
Universal Pictures will release DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot in theaters nationwide on September 27.
The voice of the iconic Pokémon theme song from the 1990s animated series will be lending his pipes to another animated tune, as Jason Paige has been tapped to create the signature song for upcoming preschool series Duncan’s Flying Tugboat. Paige will collaborate with TikTok synthwave artist Sunglasses Kid for the project, which will pay homage to classic toons of the ’80s and ’90s.
Originally announced in 2020, Duncan’s Flying Tugboat hails from Virginia-based prodco CUDO (formerly The SkyFarm Company), which has reworked a new version of the concept to bring to market. Relish Studios (Cave Club, Marvel Battleworld: Treachery at Twilight, Polly Pocket) is providing animation for the series, which is co-created by writer Scott Albert (PAW Patrol).
The series follows a ragtag crew of “eggyboo” creatures who journey across the skies in their flying tugboat, helping other air-traveling adventurers. CUDO is also developing a Roblox game and iOS storybook app for Duncan, coming soon.
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