LONDON — Paramount Pictures and Locksmith Animation, which launched in 2014 with backing from Elisabeth Murdoch, have inked a deal to co-develop and co-produce a series of animated projects for the studio.
Under the pact, Paramount and Locksmith are progressing three properties, which Locksmith has been developing since it launched, with plans to head into production within the next 12 months and to release the first theatrical movie in 2020. The deal also contemplates developing other projects together over time to create a pipeline of releases.
Locksmith, which claims to be the U.K.’s first dedicated high-end CG feature animation studio, was founded by writer/director Sarah Smith (“Arthur Christmas”) and producer Julie Lockhart (“Shaun the Sheep Movie,” “Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists!”), with backing from Murdoch. ...
Elizabeth Murdoch is the forty-seven-year-old daughter of Rupert, and considered one of the most powerful women in the United Kingdom.
Sarah Smith is a British film director, writer and producer. She worked in Culver City on the Sony-Aardman feature Arthur Christmas, which earned middling box office returns at the time of its release in late 2011.
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"Sarah Smith is a British film director, writer and producer. She worked in Culver City on the Sony-Aardman feature Arthur Christmas, which earned middling box office returns at the time of its release in late 2011. "
If I recall the scuttlebutt at the time, it also earned Sarah Smith a reputation as an extremely unpleasant person to work for.
"earned middling box office" is putting it kindly , I think. ($147 million world-wide gross on a reported budget of $100 million ... so, yeah, I suppose the overall box office take was ok viewed as a number on a page ... would have been a good take IF the movie had cost in the $50 - $70 million range. On a budget of $100 million , not so hot ...)
I researched the box office take on the picture, and the domestic box office was low -- $12 million opening weekend.
But I was striving to be diplomatic. And I was aware of the talk about Ms. Smith around the studio, but never met her, and so I offer no opinion on her likability.
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