NY Times Profiles DreamWorks CCO Bill Damaschke

The New York Times has a great piece up highlighting one of the most powerful men in the animation industry: DreamWorks' Chief Creative Officer, Bill Damaschke. Damaschke may not be as well known to animation fans as Pixar's John Lasseter - in fact the article dubs him "The Quiet Force Behind DreamWorks" - but his influence and importance at the studio cannot be understated.

DreamWorks Heading Down Under to Make Larrikins

DreamWorks have a heck of a schedule at the moment: sequels including How to Train your Dragon 2, Kung Fu Panda 3 and Puss in Boots 2, original films like B.O.O. and Trolls, and musicals like Mumbai Musical, are all on the way. And a few days ago, they announced another film on the horizon, Larrikins.

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.

DreamWorks' Full Upcoming Slate Through to Mid-2016

As their distribution deal with Paramount comes to an end (and Paramount set up shop for themselves) and they prepare to enter into their new 5-year deal with Fox, DreamWorks Animation have announced the unprecedented 12 film slate that will run from 2013 to mid-2016.

The Paramount deal concludes with November's Rise of the Guardians, and the Fox deal starts with Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon co-director Chris Sanders' next film, The Croods, (also, I somehow missed this, but the first still from The Croods, above, appeared online last week, along with character descriptions, via EW - very striking visuals!) early next year.

The announcement, via THR, also introduces B.O.O: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations to the table, which will be directed by Tony Leondis (Igor), produced by Maryann Garger (Flushed Away) and written by Tom Wheeler (Puss in Boots), from an original story by Leondis. And How to Train Your Dragon 3, due 18th June, 2016, will return Stitch and Dragon 1 co-director Dean DeBlois to the helm. The importance of this announcement is that DreamWorks will be producing three films a year going forward - four in 2015! Fox and DreamWorks reps offered up comments:

"Everyone of the movies in our lineup – whether it is an original film or a sequel to one of our beloved franchises – comes from the unique and special vision of our filmmakers, and we look forward to joining together with Fox to make them available to family audiences starting next year," says DreamWorks CCO, Bill Damaschke.

"We have had the privilege not only to view many of these films in their various stages but also to meet the incredible leadership teams behind each one, and we are very confident about DreamWorks Animation’s robust future slate" adds Fox Filmed Entertainment head, Tom Rothman

Check out the full, year-by-year, breakdown after the jump break!

First Look at DreamWorks' Me and My Shadow

We heard briefly about this from DreamWorks' Comic-Con panel, and today the official DreamWorks Facebook page gives us the first poster from DreamWorks' upcoming CGI/hand-drawn hybrid, Me and My Shadow. The film, in the words of DreamWorks CCO Bill Damaschke is about:

"what would happen if your shadow, that has been following you around and basically just follows what you do your whole life, just stood up and took over."

Whilst the majority of the film will be animated in the normal DreamWorks mould, using CGI, the shadows of the film will be traditionally animated. This promises a great visual style and will surely make Shadow one of DreamWorks' most striking films!

The official plot synopsis for the film, due Spring 2014, is:

Me & My Shadow reveals the once secret world of shadows and their human counterparts. Stan, our hero’s shadow, yearns for a more exciting life but happens to be stuck with Stanley Grubb, a timid guy with an extreme aversion to adventure. When a crime in the shadow world puts both of their lives in danger, Stan is forced to take control of Stanley. They go on a madcap adventure to investigate the crime and stop the shadow villain from leading a rebellion where shadows take over the human world. During this adventure, Stan empowers Stanley to let go of his fears and embrace life. Through their adventure, they both learn that one cannot be whole without a true friend.

Be sure to like the Me and My Shadow Facebook page for updates about the film.

In related news, DreamWorks just acquired Classic Media, home of Casper and He-Man for $155 million! Read more here.

DreamWorks News - The Croods and Turbo

Over the last few weeks, several pieces of news have come to light concerning, arguably, the second biggest animation studio around today, DreamWorks Animation. The studio behind Shrek and Kung Fu Panda is infamous for rolling out an awful lot of films, as such, its roster of upcoming films is very substantial, including sequels, adaptations of short films, a spin-off Penguins of Madagascar movie, and an adaptation of Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants books. Included amongst these films, are two which I'm greatly anticipating: The Croods and Turbo.

Above you'll see a gorgeous new piece of artwork for The Croods, a caveman-era family comedy, directed by Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon) and Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps) and starring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone. The artwork is vibrant and colourful and will hopefully imbue life and fun into the film. The Croods is scheduled for release on 22nd March, 2013.

Secondly, the voice cast for Turbo, the story of a snail with dreams of racing grandeur, has been revealed, along with another gorgeous, more iridescent, piece of artwork (above). Following on from starring in The Croods, Ryan Reynolds will headline Turbo (directed by David Soren) just a few months later on 19th July, 2013. Reynolds will be joined by Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena and Samuel L. Jackson.

On the casting of Reynolds as the lead, DreamWorks' Chief Creative Officer, Bill Damaschke said:

"Ryan Reynolds' infectious enthusiasm and humor will bring life to the lead role of Turbo and set the tone for this amazing roster of all-star voice talent. This high-octane journey will take audiences on the race of their lives and completely re-define the traditional notion of moving at a snail's pace!"

Via DreamWorks' official Facebook page.

DreamWorks To Bring Captain Underpants to the Screen

This is a rather late post, as the news broke almost two months ago, back in October, but somehow it evaded my attention until now; DreamWorks have won a bidding war to acquire the film rights to Dav Pilkey's brilliant, funny and superb Captain Underpants book series.

The fantastic, popular kid's books had been not up for film acquisition for quite some time, due to Pilkey's reluctance to see his creation ruined or tampered with by big studios. Nonetheless, the studio behind Shrek will be bringing the underwear wearing hero to the screen in the near future, Empire tells us.

The famed studio's CCO, Bill Damaschke, told us about the studio's ambition for the project:

"We are thrilled that Dav has decided the time is right to turn his beloved property into a movie and we look forward to bringing the greatest Waistband Warrior of all time to the big screen at DreamWorks Animation!"

The brilliant Pilkey added his own words about his sudden change of heart:

"I never wanted to do a Captain Underpants movie in the past because, frankly, I worried that a movie might not be able to properly convey what I was trying to do with the books. Then I saw How to Train Your Dragon and the Kung Fu Panda movies. I loved the subtle way that morality and personal responsibility were handled in these very funny and exciting adventures. I felt that DreamWorks Animation would be the perfect home for Captain Underpants,"

No release date or time frame has currently been announced for the project, although I'll be right near the front of the line whenever it does turn up. The full press release from DreamWorks can be viewed here.