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The most expensive Chinese animated feature of all time is getting an American release.

The post ‘Rock Dog’ Gets U.S. Release Date, New American Trailer appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Chinese filmgoers have put their support behind an indie hand-drawn/CG animated feature that took 12 years to make.

The post China Shocker: Indie ‘Big Fish & Begonia’ Scores Massive Launch, Expensive ‘Rock Dog’ Flops appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

China's most expensive animated feature of all-time is at the center of a war between Chinese entertainment conglomerates.

The post Report: Duelling Chinese Businessmen Are Sabotaging The Release of ‘Rock Dog,’ Director Ash Brannon Caught in the Middle appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Ash Brannon, director of "Surfs' Up" and "Toy Story 2," is helming the project.

The post Chinese-American Co-production ‘Rock Dog’ Has A New Teaser appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Reel FX is moving forward with its exciting collaboration with the Spanish directors of "Nocturna."

The post Reel FX Reveals First Artwork, New Details for ‘Wish Police’ Directed by Headless (EXCLUSIVE) appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

In a case of corporate intrigue, Reel FX claims its co-founder Dale Carman stole confidential information from the studio to boost his new company.

Director Ash Brannon, animation studio Reel FX, and actors Luke Wilson and Eddie Izzard are all involved in this Chinese animated feature.

The directors of "The Lego Movie" were honored for their achievements in the field of animation.

An animator who learned the hard way offers some sagely advice.

Jorge Gutierrez and Reel FX Animation Studios have teamed up again, this time to produce a "kung fu space western" film.

"Mexico is way more complicated than anybody thinks." Jorge Gutierrez talks like a man on a mission. For the past decade-and-a-half, he has sought to bring a more authentic portrayal of Mexico and its people to Hollywood.

This weekend the $50 million Fox/Reel FX film "The Book of Life," opened in the United States with an estimated $17 million.

Today, Reel FX's film "The Book of Life" opens in the United States, and the story of its 39-year-old director, Jorge Gutierrez, is also one worth telling.

Chester Cheetah enters the world of the new animated feature "The Book of Life."

The latest trailer for Fox's "The Book of Life" opens up the festive-looking world of the film with new plot points like a love triangle and the introduction of new characters like the Candle Maker portrayed by Ice Cube.

Jorge Gutierrez, the director of Fox's "The Book of Life," spoke at length about the film's background and production to the website Del Toro Con. At the very least, the film promises to be the most personal and distinctive-looking major studio CG feature of 2014.

Today we look at the work of Clayton Stillwell, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

The first trailer is out today for "The Book of Life" directed by Jorge Gutierrez ("El Tigre") and produced by Reel FX.

It’s been a week of animated film trailers and teasers. This afternoon, we see the release of the Free Birds trailer, which is the first feature film produced by Reel FX, a studio known for animating the well received CGI Looney Tunes shorts. Free Birds is directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who!) and will be released by Relativity Media in the U.S. on November 1st.

Reel FX and Relativity Media are sparing no expense when it comes to promoting Free Birds, Reel FX’s first animated feature which will be released theatrically in November. At CinemaCon, the Las Vegas convention for theater owners, they unveiled a 3D-printed display of the film’s main characters, who are voiced by Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson. It certainly puts your average cardboard-based theater display to shame, and gives one optimism that they’re putting a high level of effort and care into the actual film itself. These photos of the display appeared on Collider.com.

(h/t, Sarah Marino)

Santa Monica and Dallas-based Reel FX has no plans to slow down. Already producing two features—Jimmy Hayward’s Turkeys and Jorge Gutierrez’s Book of Life—Reel FX announced today that they are developing a third feature based on the Dark Horse comic book series Beasts of Burden. Shane Acker, who directed the animated feature 9 is on board as director.

All I can say at this early stage is that Reel FX’s approach to feature animation is refreshingly eclectic and mature for an American animation studio. They will definitely be one to watch over the next couple years.

More about the Beasts of Burden feature in this official announcement:

(Dallas, Texas and Santa Monica, California) February 20, 2013—Reel FX announced today that Academy Award-nominee Shane Acker (9) will direct the studio’s upcoming untitled CG-animated feature based on the Dark Horse Comics series Beasts of Burden, written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by Jill Thompson. The film is being written by Darren Lemke (Turbo, Shrek Forever After). Aron Warner, Reel FX’s President of Animation, is producing the film alongside Mike Richardson from Dark Horse Entertainment and Andrew Adamson from Strange Weather.

Warner notes, “Reel FX is continuing to partner with some of the leading filmmakers in animation. Shane is an immense talent and will bring his fresh vision and approach to this adaptation of Beasts of Burden.”

Says Acker, “It’s a pleasure to be working with such accomplished producers and filmmakers on this incredible project. There is a real independent spirit at Reel FX—the studio is full of energy and fresh ideas—which is necessary to bring this unique story to life.”

The project is an animated adventure about the baffling behavior (tail chasing, barking at “nothing” at all) of our favorite four-legged friends. In the charming town of Burden Hill, there might be more to these animal antics than meets the eye. The town is inhabited by the supernatural, and when its paranormal activity becomes even more abnormal than usual, it’s up to a group of fearless canines called the Watch Dogs to protect its citizens – and humanity – from the mysterious things that go “bump” in the night.

If there’s any silver lining to yesterday’s awful news about Rhythm & Hues, it’s that other companies hunger for the services of Rhythm & Hues’ respected crew. Reel FX is among the companies that has been most vocal about its desire to hire some of the hundreds of R&H employees who are expected to be laid off.

The Santa Monica and Dallas-based Reel FX, which is brashly entering the world of CG feature films by simultaneously producing two major pictures—Jimmy Hayward’s Turkeys and Jorge Gutierrez’s Book of Life—posted a special recruitment page for unemployed Rhythm & Hues artists. It included the following note:

This recruiting tab was created for those Rhythm and Hues [artists] who have been affected by their recent situation. Please know our thoughts are with you.

Thumbs up to Reel FX for doing its part to create a positive impact out of an unfortunate situation.

[Disclosure: I'm sorry to inform you that the girl in the photo above does not work at Reel FX, but I had to stick their company logo somewhere. Photo via Shutterstock.]

(story via Deadline)

Dallas-based ReelFX is getting serious about feature animation. Last week, they named Aron Warner as the studio’s President of Animation. Warner will oversee the two films that the studio is currently producing: Jorge Gutierrez’s Book of Life, which we wrote about last week

Reel FX, a fully integrated movie studio that develops and produces both animated films and live action movies, announced today that Aron Warner, the Academy Award-winning producer of the animated blockbusters Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, has joined the growing movie studio as President of Animation.

Warner will oversee and expand Reel FX’s animation slate which already includes the day of the dead-themed project Book of Life (Guillermo del Toro producing/Jorge Gutierrez directing), which will be released in theaters by Fox Animation on October 10th, 2014, Turkeys (Jimmy Hayward directing) which will be released in theaters on November 14th, 2014 by Relativity Media and Beasts of Burden (Warner and Andrew Adamson producing).

Warner said: “Reel FX has the talent, technology and track record to create the highest-quality theatrical animated films for reasonable budgets. Our model allows us to take creative risks and has already attracted world-class filmmakers looking to tell unique and daring stories that appeal to audiences across the world. I am honored to be part of the Reel FX team and look forward to continuing to build upon our slate.”

Steve O’ Brien, Chairman and CEO of Reel FX said: “Aron Warner is one of the industry’s most respected and accomplished animation executives and he brings sustained success, years of experience and deep relationships to overseeing our studio’s growing feature film animation division. We are excited to work with him as we continue to build a studio that produces best in class animated movies.”
Warner and Reel FX have been working together on a variety of projects for the past few years.

Warner’s team at Reel FX includes a wide range of producers and executives including Jeff Fierson, Head of Development, Brad Booker, Creative Producer of Reel FX’s Book of Life and Scott Mosier Creative Producer of Reel FX’s Turkeys.

Warner joined PDI/DreamWorks in 1997. During the production of Shrek, Warner also served as the Head of PDI/DreamWorks for two years, overseeing all production and operations for all of the computer animation affiliate’s feature film, commercial and visual effects projects. He first joined PDI as a producer on the computer animated comedy Antz. Before PDI, Warner held the post of vice president of production at Twentieth Century Fox, where he supervised production on such films as True Lies, Independence Day, The Ice Storm, The Crucible, Alien Resurrection, Volcano and the number one blockbuster of all time, Titanic.

“Book of Life” producer Guillermo del Toro (left) and director Jorge Gutierrez

El Tigre co-creator Jorge R. Gutierrez is moving into feature film directing.

He continues the recent trend of TV artists transitioning into feature animation, following Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania and Rich Moore’s Wreck-It Ralph.

Gutierrez’s CG feature, Book of Life, will be released on October 10, 2014, by Fox Animation Studios. Unlike Tartakovsky and Moore who took over the reins of existing studio projects, Gutierrez is working from an original idea he’s been developing on and off since 2001.

The film, described in preliminary news reports as a Romeo and Juliet-style love story set against a Mexican Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) backdrop, will be produced at the Dallas animation house Reel FX.

Reel FX is best known for its Looney Tunes CGI shorts (I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, Coyote Falls) and other service work like the two Open Season sequels. They are making a push into original animated features with this film, as well as Jimmy Hayward’s Turkeys, which has also been slated for 2014.

Book of Life was optioned by Reel FX’s Brad Booker, but the film had originally been optioned in 2007 by DreamWorks. It never went beyond development at DreamWorks. Gutierrez cited creative differences between himself and the studio, but he says that Jeffrey Katzenberg was “a total gentleman” and returned all of his rights, which allowed him to take the project elsewhere.

The distributor Fox Animation Studios, which is a distinct entity from Fox’s subsidiary Blue Sky Studios, is a new contender theatrical animation and all eyes will be on them as they prepare Book of Life as one of their first major releases. Further pressure was added last year by Pixar’s announcement that Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich would develop a Day of the Dead-themed feature of his own, though no release date has been set for the Pixar film.

Gutierrez’s career in animation up to this point could be seen as one giant warm-up act for this film. Born in Mexico and a graduate of the CalArts Experimental Animation Program, he has steadfastly labored to inject a Latino flavor into American animation for the past decade.

Mexican folk and pop culture plays a central role in nearly all of his work: his CalArts thesis film Carmelo (2000) was similarly Day of the Dead-themed; El Macho (2001), an early online animated series for Sony celebrated lucha libra culture; his Nick series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (2007, co-created with his wife Sandra Equihua), was colorful Mexican pop made digestible for American audiences.

Book of Life gained mainstream cred when Guillermo del Toro, who is the most successful Mexican-born director working in Hollywood today, came on board as a producer. “As a true cinematic hero of mine, Guillermo del Toro has not disappointed,” Gutierrez says. “A true collaborator, he has taught me a ton. He has has been an incredible producer (he’s very hard on me and I am very thankful) and has really protected me and the integrity of the film.”

The script is being written by Gutierrez and veteran TV scribe Doug Langdale (who was the head writer on El Tigre). Gutierrez is designing all the characters with his wife and frequent creative collaborator, Sandra Equihua. Other key creative personnel include Simon Varela (Production Design), Paul Sullivan (Art Director), Ricardo Curtis (Head of Story), and Gustavo Santaolalla (Composer). The film will begin animation production this summer.

I’ll be rooting for Book of Life, not only because I’ve known Jorge for years, but because I know his capacity to handle this type of material. There is a need for authenticity and passion in mainstream feature animation, and at the very least, we can be assured that Jorge will bring those to the project.

Gutierrez’s arrival as as director also represents the inevitable diversification of theatrical animation directors. Women, Asians, Latinos, Blacks and almost every other group of people have been underrepresented in Hollywood animation for decades. Today, the industry has no choice but to add new voices into the mix. Hispanics attend movies more often than other segments of the American population, and Latin America is the fastest-growing movie market in the world. The time is now for a film like Book of Life.

Here’s another film to look forward to in 2014: Relativity Media and Reel FX have announced that they will jointly produce and finance the upcoming animated feature Turkeys. The film is being directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears A Who!) and stars the voice talent of Owen Wilson (Cars) and Woody Harrelson (A Scanner Darkly). Relativity usually releases their films through a major U.S. distributor like Universal or Warner Bros. Expect one of them to pick it up.

The full Press Release is below:

Relativity Gets Animated With Reel FX
10.24.2012
(Beverly Hills, Calif.) October 24, 2012 – Relativity Media and Reel FX, a movie studio based in Dallas and Santa Monica, announced today that they will jointly produce and finance the upcoming animated comedy Turkeys, slated for a 2014 release. The film is directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears A Who!) and stars the voice talent of Owen Wilson (Cars) and Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games). Turkeys will be distributed worldwide by Relativity.

Producing are Scott Mosier (Clerks), Craig Mazin (The Hangover Part II), John Strauss (The Santa Claus 2) and David l. Stern (Hotel Transylvania). The screenplay was written by Stern and Strauss with a rewrite by Mazin.

Turkeys is an irreverent, hilarious, adventurous buddy comedy where two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history – and get turkey off the menu for good.

Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO, Relativity Media said, “This agreement is a culmination of years of friendship and a continued desire to collaborate between Relativity and Reel FX. We are delighted to broaden our film release slate to include Turkeys which features an exciting roster of voice talent, a powerhouse creative team and an original witty storyline.”

Steve O’ Brien, Chairman and CEO of Reel FX said, “We’ve always been fans of Relativity, and have watched them evolve over the years into a major force in the film and entertainment business. We are excited to start our relationship with Relativity by partnering with Ryan and his team to bring Turkeys to audiences around the world.”

Reel FX is a fully-integrated movie studio that develops and produces both animated films and live action movies. In addition to Turkeys, Reel FX’s growing animation slate includes Day of the Dead (Guillermo del Toro producing) and Beasts of Burden (Aron Warner and Andrew Adamson producing). Reel FX’s own film slate follows almost 20 years of experience as an award-winning one-stop studio for animated content including films, special attraction/live venue projects and interactive projects for companies like DreamWorks Animation, Fox, Warner Bros. and Universal Studios.

Up next, Relativity will release the outrageous Movie 43 (in theatres January 25, 2013), the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling Safe Haven (in theatres February 8, 2013), the comedy 21 and Over (in theatres March 1, 2013), the corporate espionage thriller Paranoia (in theatres October 4, 2013) and Luc Besson’s darkly comedic action film Malavita (in theatres October 18, 2013) with EuropaCorp. Relativity is currently in post-production on Scott Cooper’s gritty dramatic thriller currently-titled Out of the Furnace.

ABOUT RELATIVITY MEDIA
Relativity Media is a next-generation studio engaged in multiple aspects of entertainment, including full-scale film and television production and distribution, the co-financing of major studio film slates, music publishing, sports management and digital media. Additionally, the company makes strategic partnerships with, and investments in, media and entertainment-related companies and assets.

To date, Relativity has produced, distributed, and/or structured financing for more than 200 motion pictures. Released films have accumulated more than $17 billion in worldwide box office receipts. Relativity’s recent films include: House at the End of the Street, The Bourne Legacy, The Raven, Mirror Mirror, Act of Valor, Haywire, Immortals, Tower Heist, Bridesmaids, Limitless, Hop, Cowboys & Aliens, Battle: Los Angeles, Little Fockers, The Fighter, The Social Network, Salt, Despicable Me, Grown Ups, Dear John, It’s Complicated, Couples Retreat and Zombieland. Upcoming films for Relativity include: Movie 43, Safe Haven, 21 and Over, Paranoia and Malavita. Thirty-nine of the company’s films have opened to No. 1 at the box office. Relativity films have earned 60 Oscar® nominations, including nods for The Fighter, The Social Network, The Wolfman, A Serious Man, Frost/Nixon, Atonement, American Gangster and 3:10 to Yuma. Sixty-two of Relativity’s films have each generated more than $100 million in worldwide box-office receipts.

RelativityREAL, Relativity’s television arm, has more than 70 projects in active production, including 17 original series that are currently airing or will air in the upcoming television season including Police Women for TLC, Coming Home for Lifetime and The Great Food Truck Race for Food Network. Relativity also owns and operates RogueLife, Relativity’s digital content studio is developing original content for the web and creating sustainable online platforms and communities. Relativity Music Group, a music division of Relativity, provides music supervision, music publishing catalogues and soundtrack services for films produced and/or distributed by Relativity Media and other major Hollywood studios. Relativity Sports is a fast-growing sports agency dedicated to providing high profile athletes a full range of professional development services including contract negotiation, marketing, media relations, fan management, brand building with entrepreneurial ventures, community involvement and personal services. Clients include NBA, NFL and MLB athletes. For additional information, please visit www.relativitymedia.com.

ABOUT REEL FX
Reel FX is a fully integrated movie studio that develops and produces both animated films and live action movies. The company’s development slate includes Day of the Dead, Turkeys, and Beasts of Burden.

Reel FX launched its feature length development and production slate in 2010 after almost 20 years of experience as an award-winning one-stop studio for the creation of animated content including films, special attraction/live venue projects, and interactive projects for companies like DreamWorks Animation (Rise of the Guardians), Fox, Warner Bros. and Universal Studios.

Since starting the development and production of feature films, Reel FX has aligned itself with some of the most recognized and respected names and brands in the entertainment industry for its projects including Cirque Du Soleil: World’s Away (Cirque Du Soleil, James Cameron, Andrew Adamson, Aron Warner), Day of the Dead (Guillermo Del Toro, Jorge R. Gutierrez), Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse Comics, Andrew Adamson, Aron Warner) and Turkeys (Jimmy Hayward, Craig Mazin).