DreamWorks Bits: New Turbo Poster and Trolls Director Announced

DreamWorks have had quite the success with their first feature film of 2013; The Croods has currently raked in upwards of $563 million. They'll be hoping for a repeat of that with their summer release, the Ryan Reynolds-starring escargot-adventure, Turbo. Today the studio rolled out another new poster for the film.

The colour scheme is very Fast and Furious, and the film certainly seems set to be a visual delight. Check out the trailer we got a couple of months ago here, too. Turbo is directed by David Soren (Merry Madagascar), and hits cinemas on 17th July (US)/18th October (UK).

Mitchell (right) with the voice of Shrek, Mike Myers.

We've known for a while now that DreamWorks were moving ahead with a Trolls film (we found out a couple of weeks ago that it'll now be released on 4th November, 2016), and now we have a director for it. Mike Mitchell (Shrek Forever After, Sky High) is at the helm, says Animation World Network, with Erica Rivinoja (South Park, Up All Night) attached to write and Gina Shay (also Shrek 4) producing. Mitchell is currently directing the live action sequences in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie 2.

Mitchell seems a decent choice; it's a testament to Shrek Forever After that I was able to enjoy it at all after the direly poor quality of Shrek the Third, so imagine what he could do with an untainted new film franchise! Although he did direct Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which is never a good sign. But hey ho, only time will tell.

On the new Trolls team, DreamWorks CCO Bill Damaschke said:

"Mike and Erica are the perfect team to reimagine this film. Mike's pedigree in shaping stories with already beloved characters is second to none, and Erica's amazing sense of comedy will introduce the Trolls to a new generation of fans while keeping the spirit and appeal audiences have loved for years."

The film is described as "a grand scale musical comedy centering around how the Trolls came into their vibrant and colorful hair."

Thoughts? Does it seem as though DreamWorks are positioning this as their next big franchise?