Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Creator Charles Brubaker has returned with a new installment of the Ursa Major Award nominated cartoon series Fuzzy Princess, called Oingo Bongo. “Wanting to win a new set of bongo drums, Chiro enters herself and Kuma in a poetry contest. Can Chiro keep the ever-hungry Kuma ‘inspired’?” The short is already up on YouTube, and there are links to lots of Fuzzy Princess books as well.
image c. 2022 Charles Brubaker
Now we’re getting word on Illumination’s next animated feature project. We got this from Deadline: Migration is billed as a modern-day comedy following a family of ducks who convince their overprotective father to go on the vacation of a lifetime as they attempt to migrate from New England, through New York City, and ultimately down to the Bahamas. Oscar nominee Benjamin Renner (Ernest et Célestine) is directing the pic from an original screenplay by Mike White (School of Rock, The White Lotus).” They migrate this way in December of 2023.
image c. 2022 Illumination
Recently at the Annecy animation festival, GCI Film gave a first glimpse of their new feature film Ozi: Voice of the Forest, directed by Tim Harper. “The independently financed feature follows the journey of a teenage orangutan, Ozi, and her friends, who set out on a voyage of discovery across the rainforest in a quest to find her parents in a land that has fallen victim to deforestation. Supported by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions, and Academy Award-winning producer, Mike Medavoy, the feature brings to light critical issues as the world’s rainforests face ever-growing levels of deforestation and its impact on the ecosystems within. The voice cast includes Amandla Stenberg as Ozi, Laura Dern, RuPaul, Donald Sutherland, and Djimon Hounsou. Harper helms the project alongside creators Keith Chapman (Paw Patrol, Bob the Builder) and Rodrigo Blaas (Pixar’s Wall-E, Finding Nemo). Emmy Award-winning Ricky Roxburgh (Tangled, Spy Kids) wrote the original screenplay.” The film is currently in production. Stay tooned.
image c. 2022 GCI Film
Over the years there have been many adaptations of satirist George Orwell’s famous work Animal Farm, both on stage and on screen. Most often, each of them have deviated in some way from the author’s original story, an allegory for the Russian Revolution and the subsequent rise of centralized power under Joseph Stalin. Now we’ve been informed by Animation World Network that Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle) and his company The Imaginarium have joined up with Aniventure (Riverdance) to create a new CGI version of the story that Mr. Serkis will direct. It’s currently in production at Cinesite. No word on a release date — yet!
image c. 2022 The Imaginarium
At WonderCon we met Ralph Lee Miranda, one of the minds behind Oh, Bubba — a series of animated shorts. Here’s what the makers say: “Oh, Bubba is an animated series on YouTube. It stars our titular character Bubba Lu [the gorilla], Grumpy, and their hooman friends as they navigate this modern world together, often with hilarious results and commentary… Think of it as The Muppets meets Friends.” You can also find out more about the series at IMDB.
image c. 2022 Drawn of Time
Thanks to Animation World Network we’re learning more about the upcoming Ted TV series: “Peacock has announced the cast of Ted, Seth MacFarlane’s live-action comedy series based on his hit 2012 film of the same name and its 2015 sequel. In addition to serving as director, writer, co-showrunner, and executive producer, MacFarlane will reprise his role as the voice of the titular character — a foul-mouthed teddy bear who was first brought to life by a wish from his owner and best friend, John Bennett. In the films, John is played by Mark Wahlberg. In the new series, which serves as a prequel to the events of the first film, John appears a 16-year-old boy.” Here’s the official synopsis: “It’s 1993 and Ted the bear’s moment of fame has passed, leaving him living with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett, who lives in a working-class Boston home with his parents and cousin. Ted may not be the best influence on John, but when it comes right down to it, Ted’s willing to go out on a limb to help his friend and his family.” No word yet on a target release date for the show.
image c. 2022 Universal Pictures
If you’ve been following In-Fur-Nation for a while, you must have heard of Blazing Samurai… We’ve been following the animated film in development for nearly a decade now! At one point production ceased because the animation house that was making it actually went out of business! In fact, the convoluted history of this film’s creation would make for an interesting movie all its own. But now, it seems like things have changed: We have a trailer, we have a release date… and we have a complete change of title. Say hello to Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank. Still directed by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King), but now being released this July through Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Animation.
image c. 2022 Nickelodeon Animation
Another item we’ve missed, brought to our attention by Animation World Network. Time to catch up! “Cheeky Little Media has announced that ABC Kids has greenlit a second season of the popular Australian 3D animated TV series, Kangaroo Beach. The second season will offer more beach-based fun adventures with the four cadets: Pounce, Frizzy, Neville, and Gemma, and continue to explore new water safety themes for preschoolers and their families… Key partners for the Season 2 include ABC, the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF), and Surf Life Saving Australia. ACTF will also distribute the series while Cheeky Little Commercial continues as the global brand manager. New consumer products for the franchise include a book series, kids’ swimwear and clothing, bedding, and toys.” As ever, merchandising!
image c. 2022 Cheeky Little Media
A post on Twitter guided us to this interesting news from Deadline: “Luke Matheny, who writes on, directs, and exec produces Apple TV+’s Ghostwriter, has signed up to serve as head writer and exec producer on HBO Max’s remake of Charlotte’s Web. The animated mini-series, which comes from Sesame Workshop, is set to start production next month and will air on HBO Max and Cartoon Network in 2024.” In case you need a reminder: “Charlotte’s Web tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur’s life is in danger, Charlotte weaves messages in her web praising Wilbur in order to drum up public support and persuade the farmer to let him live. The adaptation is the latest remake of E.B. White’s classic; an animated feature was produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1973, and Nickelodeon and Paramount rebooted it again when Dakota Fanning and Julia Roberts teamed up for a 2006 movie.” So is this new version 2D or 3D?
image c. 2022 Sesame Workshop
