Kirk De Micco has made a fantastic career jump from Space Chimps to Crood.
Kirk started out as a writer...
Quest for Camelot (1998) (screenplay)
Racing Stripes (2005) (story)
Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie (2005) (V) (screenplay) (story)
Casper's Scare School (2006) (TV) (story)
Space Chimps (2008) (screenplay) (story)
The Croods (2012) (post-production) (writer)
The Croods will be his second directorial effort (after Space Chimps). So somehow with Space Chimps, Kirk managed to pitch the story and script and get attached as the director. Then he nailed that film, which is what got him into DreamWorks.
Jumping from Vanguard to DreamWorks is huge, because it's like bypassing WB, Universal, Sony, Fox, and Disney. The only animation studio more successful than DW right now is Pixar.
The Croods is also directed by Chris Sanders, who directed Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. Chris also left Disney when Lassetter demanded a reset of Bolt (which Chris was then directing).
And Kirk's not done with The Croods. He's got quite the lineup that he's writing and maybe directing after that...
Pig Scrolls
The Twits
Gil's All Fright Diner
Hong Kong Phooey
So Hong Kong Phooey is the only one that's obvious. That's a return to Warner Bros (who owns the Hannah Barbara stuff), seeing how Quest for Camelot was at WB.
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label DreamWorks Animations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DreamWorks Animations. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Movie Review - How to Train Your Dragon
by Alex Popp
In "How to Train your Dragon," a teenager from an island in viking times is dying to be a dragon killer like the other island residents. But he shoots down an attacking dragon known as the Night Fury that everyone hardly knows anything about. But as he sets out to kill the dragon he shot and impress his father, he gets a change in heart, but is still forced to be trained to kill dragons. In his spare time he tames the black dragon and learns to ride it.
This animated film really doesn't deserve the ratings its been getting on the internet. Although there are parts that are cute and funny, it's still a bit hard to enjoy as it's painfully predictable. Although there isn't anything particularly wrong with it, the plot is basically where "The Little Mermaid" meets "Ratatouille" in the viking world.
Rated PG for sequences of intense action that may scare young kids.
Two stars (out of four) for "How to Train your Dragon."
Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.
===================
I have to watch the film in order to counter this review. But from what I've heard, a lot of people like it (and it did very well in theaters, having "legs" where it kept going where other films would lose steam). I think the reason is because it's simply fun and enjoyable, although I should see for myself.
This film is also notable because the director Chris Sanders, is a Disney animation veteran in the 90s, and he wrote and directed Lilo & Stitch (playing the voice of Stitch). He followed it up with American Dog (renamed to Bolt), but Lassetter cut up the movie so much (Lassetter called it too quirky for its own good) that Chris bolted from Disney.
Chris Sanders then went to DreamWorks, and this was his first film (I think he actually started working on a caveman film, Crood, but he switched over to this one as soon as they got the rights to the book and were probably looking internally for the right director. The other film, Crood, will probably be out next year. I think Chris just pressed pause on that one and is finishing it up now.
In a year of Shrek 4, Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind, Despicable Me, Legend of the Guardians (Owls), and Tangled, I think it's anyone's game for the Academy Award. The Academy doesn't really like sequels, and I see Megamind as too much of a sellout and not endearing enough (and it didn't fair nearly as well as the similar but better Despicable Me), which means it's down to How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, Legend of the Guardians, and Tangled. Guardians has the fact that Happy Feet (from the same studio) won the award previously, but it wasn't nearly as successful as Happy Feet. Likewise, Tangled was a step in the right direction for Disney, but the lack of character development (other than Rapunzel) and the lack of Disney magic and spectacular songs/numbers, means it might not win. So my money is on either How to Train Your Dragon or Despicable Me. I can't decide right now. We'll see.
- The Emperor
In "How to Train your Dragon," a teenager from an island in viking times is dying to be a dragon killer like the other island residents. But he shoots down an attacking dragon known as the Night Fury that everyone hardly knows anything about. But as he sets out to kill the dragon he shot and impress his father, he gets a change in heart, but is still forced to be trained to kill dragons. In his spare time he tames the black dragon and learns to ride it.
This animated film really doesn't deserve the ratings its been getting on the internet. Although there are parts that are cute and funny, it's still a bit hard to enjoy as it's painfully predictable. Although there isn't anything particularly wrong with it, the plot is basically where "The Little Mermaid" meets "Ratatouille" in the viking world.
Rated PG for sequences of intense action that may scare young kids.
Two stars (out of four) for "How to Train your Dragon."
Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.
===================
I have to watch the film in order to counter this review. But from what I've heard, a lot of people like it (and it did very well in theaters, having "legs" where it kept going where other films would lose steam). I think the reason is because it's simply fun and enjoyable, although I should see for myself.
This film is also notable because the director Chris Sanders, is a Disney animation veteran in the 90s, and he wrote and directed Lilo & Stitch (playing the voice of Stitch). He followed it up with American Dog (renamed to Bolt), but Lassetter cut up the movie so much (Lassetter called it too quirky for its own good) that Chris bolted from Disney.
Chris Sanders then went to DreamWorks, and this was his first film (I think he actually started working on a caveman film, Crood, but he switched over to this one as soon as they got the rights to the book and were probably looking internally for the right director. The other film, Crood, will probably be out next year. I think Chris just pressed pause on that one and is finishing it up now.
In a year of Shrek 4, Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind, Despicable Me, Legend of the Guardians (Owls), and Tangled, I think it's anyone's game for the Academy Award. The Academy doesn't really like sequels, and I see Megamind as too much of a sellout and not endearing enough (and it didn't fair nearly as well as the similar but better Despicable Me), which means it's down to How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, Legend of the Guardians, and Tangled. Guardians has the fact that Happy Feet (from the same studio) won the award previously, but it wasn't nearly as successful as Happy Feet. Likewise, Tangled was a step in the right direction for Disney, but the lack of character development (other than Rapunzel) and the lack of Disney magic and spectacular songs/numbers, means it might not win. So my money is on either How to Train Your Dragon or Despicable Me. I can't decide right now. We'll see.
- The Emperor
Monday, April 25, 2011
How to Train Your Dragon - Update
They released the trailers for "How To Train Your Dragon" ... a new DreamWorks cartoon coming in 2010.
It's just a short teaser with no voices or characters other than the dragon. But it's enough to get you excited!
Enjoy!
It's just a short teaser with no voices or characters other than the dragon. But it's enough to get you excited!
Enjoy!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
How to Train Your Dragon - has legs!!!
Yes, it has dragon legs!
Despite an average and not great opening weekend, How to Train Your Dragon has been slowing down in box office sales...
SLOWLY.
How slowly? Well, slower than Kung-Fu Panda and both Madagascar movies. In fact, it's been slowing down so slowly that it's beating both the Madagascar movies and Monsters VS Aliens. It might beat Kung-Fu Panda.
What does that mean? What it means, is that there is newfound hope that we might get a sequel!
When a movie "has legs," that typically means that the trailer didn't excite people, but once they go see it, they love it and tell their friends. So it looks like How to Train Your Dragon is fitting in this category. Go DreamWorks go!
How to Train Your Dragon's weekend 4 box office take was $19,633,320. Kung-Fu Panda was $11,692,061 (and Kung Fu Panda is the highest-grossing non-Shrek DreamWorks animated film).
- TAE
Despite an average and not great opening weekend, How to Train Your Dragon has been slowing down in box office sales...
SLOWLY.
How slowly? Well, slower than Kung-Fu Panda and both Madagascar movies. In fact, it's been slowing down so slowly that it's beating both the Madagascar movies and Monsters VS Aliens. It might beat Kung-Fu Panda.
What does that mean? What it means, is that there is newfound hope that we might get a sequel!
When a movie "has legs," that typically means that the trailer didn't excite people, but once they go see it, they love it and tell their friends. So it looks like How to Train Your Dragon is fitting in this category. Go DreamWorks go!
How to Train Your Dragon's weekend 4 box office take was $19,633,320. Kung-Fu Panda was $11,692,061 (and Kung Fu Panda is the highest-grossing non-Shrek DreamWorks animated film).
- TAE
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Shrek Forever After Theatrical Trailer [2010] HD 1080p
Shrek 4 in all it's trailer goodness. It's amazing that a horrible idea can still be done well. =^)
- TAE
Saturday, April 2, 2011
New DreamWorks Animated Film Announced - Guardians of Childhood
Guardians of Childhood
Directed by Jeffrey Lynch (Simpsons, Futurama, Iron Giant, and co-director on Spider-man 1-3)
Starring:
Leonardo DiCaprio
Miranda Cosgrove
Seth Green
Andy Samberg
From DreamWorks Animation
The Guardians of Childhood is an upcoming animated comedy film based on the forthcoming books by William Joyce, produced by DreamWorks Animation and due for release on November 2, 2012. The film is being described as "a contemporary fairytale based on existing fairytale characters". It will be written by Joyce, the creator of Rolie Polie Olie and Meet the Robinsons as well as a contributor to the underlying ideas behind the film Robots.
The film features a group of our greatest heroes from various childhood stories - Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Genie, the Sandman and Jack Frost — who join together in an adventure to stop Pitch the Boogeyman from sending the world into "eternal darkness".
From:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardians_of_Childhood
This would be Andy's third animation! Is this Leonardo's first?
Enjoy!
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