Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings Have Joined 'The Croods 2'

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that two actresses will be lending their voices to new characters in The Croods 2, the sequel to DreamWorks 2012 film following a prehistoric family. These actresses are Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings. More after the break.

Awesome New Poster for How to Train Your Dragon 2

20th Century Fox have released an intense new poster for DreamWorks' hotly anticipated sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2! Hiccup's looking badass, Toothless's looking imposing, and the film's looking incredibly exciting.

The Croods coming to Blu-ray on 1st October

DreamWorks Animation's pre-historic film is going to be released on Blu-ray on Oct. 1st. It will be also be available on digital download two weeks earlier on 20th September. The Chris Sanders/Kirk DeMicco helmed film was a strong box office earner and a sequel is already in development. The film will come in 'Deluxe Editions' in both 3D and 2D combo packs and bonus features include:

Interview: Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, Directors of The Croods

Last month, DreamWorks released their first film under Fox, the prehistoric family comedy, The Croods. We here at A113Animation really rather liked it: it's warm, it's funny and it's visually stunning. So I was very pleased to get the opportunity to talk to its two directors, Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, late last week.

I'd like to pass on my sincerest thanks to Chloe Adams at 20th Century Fox for setting up the interview, and to Chris and Kirk for taking the time out of their very hectic schedules to fit in an eager fanboy - and for putting up with my God-awful connection.

Kirk has been involved in the production for nine years now, whereas Chris worked on the project both before and after his enormous success with How to Train Your Dragon. In our 20 minute interview, Chris, Kirk and I discuss The Croods, its lengthy production, its recently announced sequel, working with Roger Deakins, Chris's involvement with How to Train Your Dragon 2, and more! Check the transcription of our chat out below.

DreamWorks Bits: The Croods To Get a Sequel; New Turbo Poster

This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to those who've been keeping up to date with how the film's been performing at the box office (particularly, that it's a significant improvement over Rise of the Guardians), but Deadline reports that DreamWorks have green-lit a sequel to The Croods - which will be announced at CinemaCon tomorrow (check out our coverage of Disney's CinemaCon news here).

Damien Reviews The Croods

By Damien.

The Croods is a very good film... sort of

The latest DreamWorks Animation effort, while not the best the studio has given us in the last few years, is still a very solid movie. And this should not be a surprise, as it was co-directed by Chris Sanders, one of the men responsible for what is arguably the best DreamWorks Animation film to date: How to Train Your Dragon.

Still, as I stated before, The Croods come with flaws. Some big, some minor. As always when it comes to reviews, what you will read here is only subjective, but I will try my best to explain what I think the issues and the strengths of The Croods are.

The Croods Review - Prehistoric Fun, Feels and Visual Splendour

*This review is largely spoiler free, but read cautiously if you haven’t seen the film yet*

2012 was an up-and-down year for DreamWorks Animation, with the strong performance of Madagascar 3, but the commercial disappointment associated with Rise of the Guardians (although only in the über-competitive and expensive world of  animation can a gross of $300 million not be a great thing), but 2013 seems to be off to a good start so far. The studio's first film of the year is out now and you know what? The Croods is good. Reviews have been tepidly enthusiastic and, certainly, The Croods isn't up there with How to Train Your Dragon or Kung Fu Panda 2, but it is still a very fun, very funny and suitably warm film - just another in DreamWorks' recent string of really good animated pictures.

The Croods Opens Big for DreamWorks

2012 ended in a non-too-pleasant way for DreamWorks, resulting in an $87 million down write-down after the disappointing box-office returns of the very good (though that's bittersweet in the end) Rise of the Guardians. As a result, the studio is facing layoffs of almost 20% of their workforce. So, it's very, very good news to see that the studio is starting off in a big way in 2013.

DreamWorks' first release of the year, caveman-comedy The Croods, is now playing worldwide, and as well as pretty favourable reviews, the Chris Sanders/Kirk DeMicco-directed flick took the number 1 spot at the North American box office this past weekend. The film took home an estimated $44.7 million domestically, as well as $62.6 million internationally, pushing its opening weekend total north of $107 million (figures via Box Office Mojo). To put that into perspective, The Croods has made as much in its opening weekend as Aardman's The Pirates! did during its entire run last year.

Nice to see DreamWorks back in their stride. I'll hopefully be checking out the film myself this weekend.

DreamWorks' The Croods Is Out Now

DreamWorks' The Croods opens today, as the first major animated release of 2013. The caveman comedy, directed by How to Train Your Dragon helmer Chris Sanders and Space Chimps skipper Kirk DeMicco, is the first film under DreamWorks' new distribution deal with 20th Century Fox. Fox, and indeed DreamWorks, are presumably hoping that the film performs better than their last one under Paramount; Rise of the Guardians resulted in a write-down of $87 million for the studio and significant layoffs.

The Art of The Croods Review

The Croods, directed by How to Train Your Dragon's Chris Sanders and Space Chimps' Kirk DeMicco, is DreamWorks' first film under Fox. While it seems critics aren't all too taken with the story of "the world's first family", one area that has been unanimously praised is the film's visuals. As such, and going off the beautiful shots we've seen in the trailers, the Art of book looked to be a must-buy. With just under a week to go until the release of the film, we can say that The Art of The Croods is definitely worth the purchase for animation fans.

UPDATED: First Reviews for The Croods Surface

DreamWorks' first film of 2013, The Croods, opens a week yesterday, and, as such, reviews are slowly starting to roll out, and, while they're so far pretty good, they're not as good as we might have hoped.

New Production Art from The Croods

© DreamWorks 2013
Credit: The Art of the Croods, by Noela Hueso. £24.99, 15th March 2013,
Titan Books.

DreamWorks' first film of 2013, The Croods, is out in ten days and looks absolutely stunning (just look at this still from the film, and this one). As such, the film's companion art book is a must-buy! Titan Books, who're publishing, sent us a review copy of The Art of the Croods (by Noela Hueso) last month, and it's absolutely beautiful (as these books tend to be). It's not quite as brilliant as the book for Rise of the Guardians last year, but there's an awful lot to like - expect to see our review sometime this week.

Watch: A Bunch of New Clips and TV Spots for The Croods

DreamWorks' first film of 2013 is the prehistoric caveman comedy, The Croods. People have mixed feelings about it so far, but I am whole-heartedly excited! The clips we've seen so far are really funny, extremely inventive, utterly beautiful and - if the rest of co-director Chris Sanders' career has been any indication - the film will pack a lot of heart.

Chris Sanders Shares New Storyboards from The Croods

Chris Sanders, director (alongside Space Chimps' Kirk DeMicco) of DreamWorks' next feature film, The Croods, has released some cool storyboards from the caveman-comedy film, due out on 22nd March.

DreamWorks Preview Their 2013 Movies

DreamWorks, fresh off a critical hit, if not a commercial one (yet), with Rise of the Guardians, are looking forward to 2013, where - under their new distribution deal with Fox - they will release three films. Towards the end of last week, some post surfaced about said films, which have been previewed for press at the Fox campus.

Second Trailer for DreamWorks' The Croods

The second trailer for DreamWorks' first film of 2013 is now online. iTunes Movie Trailers brings us the second look at the Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon) and Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps) directed caveman-comedy, due for release on 22nd March, 2013.

Not everyone's in full support of the film, some of the character designs are certainly a little blocky, but the world of the film is absolutely breathtaking, and the story promises to be an engaging one, infused with Sanders' usual flair and heart - as well as the abundance of comedy visible in the trailer. And I loved the little wink to Ice Age's Manny at around the 1:30 mark.

I can't stress enough how magnificent this film looks; it's stunning (check out a couple of particularly marvellous shots from the great new trailer above). I have very high hopes for The Croods.

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.