Back at the SPA

Yesterday I was down at Sony Pictures Animation, walking around and holding a 401(k) meeting. SPA has just under fifty employees, and now that Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (see above) is ready for launch next week, several employees were taking vacations. ...

Cloudy had a lot of its production work done at Sony Picture Imageworks British Columbia studio, where a large part of the animation was done. There were also a lot of SPI employees working on the picture in Culver City.

There are a number of features in work. Popeye, with genndy tartakovsky directing, is garnering enthusiasm. And staffers tell me that the newer Cloudy is amusing, so maybe it will open robustly next Friday. (No major reviews on-line yet.)

I talked briefly to Kelly Asbury, who's working on Kazorn and the Unicorn (or Kazorn, as the posters decorating various walls title it.) His picture isn't due for a couple more years, but it appears to be on track. (Certainly that's what people are telling me.)

Morale seemed to be better than the last time I strolled through the studio. But then, the pressure of getting the new picture out is o-ver, so that could have aided the mood.