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Animation

Fox and Hare Solve a Mystery

But not that Fox and Hare. Or that fox and… rabbit. This is something all together different. Cartoon Brew recently told us about Fox and Hare Save the Forest, a new CGI feature in production now from European director Mascha Halberstad. “The film’s screenplay was adapted by Fabie Hulsebos from the Vos en Haas en de Bosbaas book series from author Sylvia VandenHeede and illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing. Halbersted and Dutch production company Submarine previously adapted the property as an animated series in 2018… In the film, Fox and Hare become distressed when they find their friend Owl has disappeared. Together with a group of woodland creatures, they set out to track down the missing bird, but instead find that their forest has been flooded by a giant lake that wasn’t there the day before. Unsure if Owl’s disappearance and the floodwaters are somehow related, the animals must embark on a crazy adventure to find their friend before the rising water overtakes the forest.” The film-makers hope to finish production and release the film later this year. As usual, no word yet on if there will be distribution in North America.

image c. 2023 Submarine

Bears In Space?

We know intriguingly little about Good Morning Kevin… other than the fact it’s a popular meme phrase on the Internet. But this is something different: A new animated series created by Andrew Gordon, a 20-year veteran of Pixar. Now he’s started his own animation studio, Songchain. At their Twitter site, you can see lots of sketches of Kevin the bear interacting with various alien creatures — and a quick teaser of the new series showing Kevin animated in CGI. They tell us it’s coming out this May. We’ll let you know when we find out more!

image c. 2023 Songchain

Dinos in Love (and Music)

Recently we learned more about Goodbye Volcano High, a new 2D animated anthro-dinosaur game created by Ko Op studios (Winding Worlds). It goes like this: “Goodbye Volcano High is a story about love, friendship, personal growth, acceptance, and the power of community in the face of disaster. (And dinosaurs!) Fang has just figured out what they want to do with their life, and now they’ve got to find out how to deal with the end of the world, be there for their loved ones, and follow through on their musical dreams before it’s too late.” Cartoon Brew has more information and a link to the new game trailer. Goodbye Volcano High is scheduled for release this June.

image c. 2023 Ko Op

The Annie Award Winners for 2022

This past Saturday the gala ceremony for the Annie Awards was held at UCLA in Southern California — the first time in three years the ceremony has been held live! The “Oscars of animation” are presented every year by ASIFA Hollywood (a division of the International Animated Film Society). This year, surprising no one at all, the stop-motion film Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was the big winner of the night, winning in five categories including the top prize, Best Animated Feature. (Might be time to admit it — the film’s pretty much got a lock on the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at this point). Pinocchio also won in the Feature Film categories for Best Character Animation, Best Direction, Best Production Design, and Best Music. More surprising perhaps (at least to those of us who were behind the curve on the meme!) was this little film called Marcel, The Shell With Shoes On, which took home three Feature awards: Best Writing, Best Voice Acting (for Marcel’s voice and creator, Jenny Slate (Zootopia)), and the coveted Best Independent Feature. It was a complete sweep for these two though — some other (furry!) films of note were award-winners too. Over at Dreamworks, The Bad Guys got the award for Best Character Design, while Puss In Boots: The Last Wish was recognized with awards for Best Storyboarding and Best Editing. (All for features, of course.) Over in the TV categories, Dreamworks won Best TV For Children with their show Abominable and the Invisible City. Meanwhile, one of the big winners of the night was the animated video special The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse, which took four Annies home to the U.K., including Best Special Production. It was not a great night for Disney, but there was one great furry note: Maurice LaMarche (Pinky and the Brain) won Best Voice Acting in TV for his portrayal of Mr. Big in Zootopia+. Cartoon Brew has a good article about the awards and a full list of the winners. (And now we get to remind you that voting for the Ursa Major Awards opens up this week!)

image c. 2023 Netflix

Happy at the Hedge

Something we’ve missed out on, but we’re getting caught up thanks to Animation World Network: “Paper Owl Films’ Happy the Hoglet, an animated preschool series aimed at helping kids overcome negative feelings and make the most of positive emotions, was greenlit for a second season… Happy the Hoglet follows a baby hedgehog’s adventures with his friends as they explore their feelings. Each episode focuses on an adventure during which Happy learns to understand emotions, from feeling excited to ‘hangry’ or feeling like he just needs a quiet minute.” The show premiered in November of 2022, and more new episodes are due in 2024. Not certain where and how they’re being distributed in North America, but episodes are available to see on YouTube.

image c. 2023 Paper Owl Films

Another Dynamite Rabbit Returns

Bunnicula, a horror/comedy novel for young readers by Deborah Howe and James Howe, has been a fan favorite for decades. It was even an animated cartoon series. Now, Atheneum Books has brought us Bunnicula — The Graphic Novel. It’s adapted by original author James Howe, with the help of Andrew Donkin and illustrations by Stephen Gilpin. “Harold the dog and Chester the cat must find out the truth about the newest pet in the Monroe household — a suspicious-looking bunny with unusual habits… and fangs! Could this innocent-seeming rabbit actually be a vampire?” Find out now, before it’s too late!

image c. 2023 Atheneum Books

More Pug for your Pay

A long, long time ago, we told you about Pug Davis, a very very strange science fiction on-line comic written and illustrated by a talented young creator. Well, in the years since then that person, Rebecca Sugar, has become known for creating this cartoon called Steven Universe… you’ve probably heard of it. And now, Albatross Funny Books and Dark Horse Press have teamed up to bring us the Pug Davis Trade Paperback, collecting the on-line comics in a single book. “Pug Davis is a curmudgeonly astronaut in the vein of Buck Rodgers via John Wayne. He also happens to have the head of a Pug. Reluctantly teamed with his sensitive partner, Blouse, he fights aliens in space so we don’t have to fight them here.” It’s available now from Dark Horse Press.

image c. 2023 Dark Horse Press

Dragons are… Alive?

Well, well, well… now Universal Studios is getting into the act. And taking Dreamworks Animation with them. This has been making the rounds in all the Hollywood papers; we got this from the Hollywood Reporter: “Taking a massive swing, Universal Pictures has put in motion a How to Train Your Dragon live-action movie, with Dean DeBlois, the filmmaker behind the original animated trilogy, back in the saddle as writer, director and producer… The feature project is already steps into the development process. Universal has dated the feature for a March 14, 2025, release… Using the books by Cressida Cowell as a jumping-off point, How to Train Your Dragon focused on the special friendship between a young and unheroic Viking boy named Hiccup and Toothless, an injured dragon he nurses back to health. The movies chronicled Hiccup and Toothless’ quest to combat humanity’s prejudice against dragons, the ache of overcoming the loss of a parent, and first love.” In case you didn’t remember. Oh, and if you look at the article you’ll find links to news about Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, and also about the upcoming (fortunately CGI animated!) Kung Fu Panda 4, set for release in 2024.

image c. 2023 Dreamworks Animation

Go Team! Rawr!

Okay, this is different… Here’s the press release we just came across from IDW Publishing: “IDW is fielding both its Publishing and Entertainment operations to kick off development of Team Spirit, an original comedy for kids 6-11 created by Tshepo Moche (Mama K’s Team 4, Kizazi Moto), Raffaella Delle Donne (Mama K’s Team 4, Pearl of the Sea graphic novel) and Marc Dey. In partnership, the concept will be produced as both a graphic novel and an animated series. The trio of Cape Town, South Africa-based writer-producers have gained industry recognition for handling the creative for an array of global animated hits… Team Spirit follows the comedy adventures of a middle school girl who also happens to be a were-hyena and her best bud — a hulking dancing demon — who form their own cheer squad to show that despite their typical teen angst (and atypical supernatural oddities) they have enough Team Spirit to just about raise the dead.” You heard it here. We’ll let you know when there’s a release date!

image c. 2023 IDW Publishing