Fox has scheduled its next big animated film, Leafmen, for a May 17, 2013 wide release. The 3D feature is being directed by Chris Wedge ...
And of course, Blue Sky Studios, now the apple of Fox's eye, was a prime candidate for unloading by the conglomerate prior to the first Ice Age's release. Execs were showing it to any number of potential successor companies when the memory of Fox Animation, Phoenix was still fresh in their brain-pans.
Happily, Ice Age was a big performer, and no sale was consummated. And Fox is now the proud owner of one of the steadier hit-makers in Animationland.
Posts
4 comments:
Any idea on whether Blue Sky will be doing the animation for the recently announced "Mutts" feature ?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/mutts-comic-strip-headed-big-214492
The press release says 20th Century Fox is behind it. But nothing was said about Blue Sky's involvement , so just wondering if Fox will be setting up another animation unit for "Mutts" in L.A. or following the Illumination Entertainment playbook by off-shoring the animation work ?
Interesting to read on Patrick McDonnell's "Mutts" blog and "Mutts" Facebook page the fans have overwhelmingly stated a preference that the movie should be hand-drawn to keep the charming drawing style of the comic strip. Unfortunately, I'm afraid what they'll actually get is something more like the "Garfield" CG/live-action movies.
But at least if Blue Sky was involved with the "Mutts" project I think they'd try to keep more of the integrity of the original strip , even when the characters are translated into CG versions.
Fox tried to sell Blue Sky to Pixar a while back. I'm sure they're glad they didn't. But Blue Sky wouldn't be around today if it weren't for some benefactor like Fox or Pixar/Disney.
As I've said, Blue Sky was put on the block waay back when "Ice Age" was in its final stages of development.
Potential buyers were traipsing through the studio on Broadway, White Plains New York, to see what they could see.
There were no takers. And of course when "Ice Age" hit, Fox hurriedly took the studio off the market. And it's been a dandy little money-spinner ever since.
A Mutts feature? Awesome! But it'll have to have the unique look of McDonnell's strip to get my $10. It'd be a shame if it got shoehorned into a 3D look like Over The Hedge did.
Post a Comment