New Disney/Lucasfilm Animated Movie: Strange Magic

Thought I'd start a thread about this, now that Red Tails has arrived.
What we know about the film so far:

1. Lucas is producing & probably concocted the story.
2. After "Red Tails" it's the next original Lucasfilm theatrical release.
3. It is being animated in Singapore
4. It is a fantasy, featuring fairies & apparently a "musical." The music is coming from "a variety of sources." That could be good, maybe old folk songs?

Hmmmm, anyone else hope this is the "Blue Harvest" cover for an animated "Willow" feature??

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/01/27/george-lucas-producing-cg-animated-musical-about-fairies/

http://www.popcornmonster.com/2010/01/27/george-lucas-producing-an-animated-musical/

 

We also know that Lucas is making it with "TMNT" director Kevin Munroe. Or at least he was attached at one point.

 

Oh yeah, that's right!

I really liked the voice performances for TMNT, I think they were let down by a weak script.

 

This was kinda lost in the "retirement" announcement he made a few weeks back. Hopefully, it's not another 20+ years before we see it.

 

Apparently, it's in production & the next Lucasfilm feature slated for release.

 

I really liked the TMNT movie. Hope this is as good.

 

"A Journey through the hits of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Steven Sondheim with Jar-Jar Binks"

I hope it's 100+ years.

 

Was going to start a thread about the status of this project, but I see there's already one, so I've bumped this thread.

Has anyone heard any recent info or rumors about this project? Obviously, the sell of Lucasfilm to Disney changes many things, including the possible fate of this project.

Here's some info that may be of interest, and that I think fell through the cracks due to all the news and excitement of the sale:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/11...-pixarian-brenda-chapman-heres-some-evidence/

The article is from mid-November, but draws on information about an interview during Summer 2012 the author had with Rick McCallum:

As of last summer, it seems the project was still kicking around, although it's unclear if TMNT director Kevin Munroe is still involved. In the article, the author goes on to mention that animator Brenda Chapman, also co-director of Pixar's "Brave," accepted a job at Lucasfilm in August. The author speculated that perhaps Chapman was going to be placed in charge of the musical, but now that there's so much movement on various Star Wars projects, he's not sure what's going on with the musical or with Chapman's Lucasfilm involvement. Until very recently it was still listed on IMDb, but upon writing this post, I've found that the listing has been removed.

That's about all the current/semi-current info I've dug up concerning this "musical with fairies." Thoughts?

 

Its buried incredibly deep for LFL...they usually aren't this secretive.

 

Yeah, theyre still working on it. Many Lucasfilm folks in Singapore are already deep into it.

No idea what it might be. But yeah, Lucasfilm is doing a feature animated film.

 

I did not know about this until clicking on the thread. That sounds very interesting.

 

Hmm, if it did turn out to be even spiritually related to Willow I think I'd be more excited for this than Episode VII.

 

I'd like a continuation of Willow as well-the story was pretty cool, but the f/x work just made me cringe. Well, besides the costumed dogs obviously enjoying chasing midgets and breaking stuff

 

I think the fact they have a list of per-existing songs is interesting. I wonder what this is all going to be about lol

 

Well, with today's news that The Clone Wars series has been canceled, and that Lucasfilm Animation in moving on to a new SW series, I think there's a strong probability that this project has also received the ax by Disney. Detours has been postponed (although I'm sure it's probably canceled, too), and it seems that basically everything LucasArts is working on (1313, First Assault, other stuff) has been put on "hold" Lots of changes going on during this transition.

We shall see I suppose...

 

Weird that LucasArts is seemingly freezing while Del Rey and Dark Horse are both proceeding forward. You'd think it'd be opposite-LA existed in a canon vacuum for all intents and purposes (their stuff counted, but being referenced happened about as much as Star Trek references in the EU) for years.

 

I'm pretty sure the musical fairy film was just an ongoing joke, probably cover for working on Episode VII. I never bought for a minute that it was anything other than a joke of some sort.

 

Well, could it be? Could it be this project still lives?

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06...asfilm/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

As we know, as late as mid 2012, Lucasfilm acknowledged this project was still in development, with perhaps the most high profile news being that ex-Pixar filmmaker Brenda Chapman was involved. Now, Chapman confirms she is no longer involved, having spent about six months on the project. Apparently, Kathleen Kennedy asked for Chapman to involved to fix the project's story issues. Now, according to Chapman, her friend Gary Rydstrom is directing the feature. Rydstrom, who seems to specialize in sound design and mixing, has worked on various Pixar features in the past, as well as on Episode I and II, and Ewoks: Battle for Endor.

Given the upheaval at Lucasfilm by Disney since the purchase, it's still unclear if this project is indeed moving forward. Chapman's comments come from a film festival currently taking place in Norway, but it's still hard to say if Rydstrom is still at the helm and if the project is still around. The project itself raises the question if Disney has any plans (or actually cares) to use Lucasfilm for projects other than Star Wars.

Regardless, it's the biggest bit of news regarding this Lucasfilm project in several months.

 

I'm thinking a sloooowwwww process on it, maybe by in between Episode 8-9, that we'll see this flick. I doubt it'll get completely canned, Disney has a few animator talents kicking around, y'know?

 

It wouldn't surprise me if it eventually becomes a Pixar film.

 

Well it does sound like a feature-length animated project still lives at Lucasfilm. But it's hard to say if it's the same one. And I don't know if this story takes into account the massive layoffs at Lucasfilm Animation that happened last Spring.

 

When Disney bought Lucasfilm, Lucas/McCallum/Filoni were working on a feature length animated fantasy-film about fairies, supposedly being scored with "pre-existing music". Finally, there is some possible news on the fate of this project:

http://furiousfanboys.com/2013/10/is-lucasfilms-fairy-movie-titled-primrose/

Apparently, "Primrose" was the working title of this film!

 

Interesting. I wonder if it'll be for kids.

 

Oh cool, thanks for posting. I had a thread floating around where I'd periodically post info on this project. This article is from October 1st, and definitely flew under the radar. I'm still curious as to how this will all play out. I'm almost certain Disney wants Lucasfilm to solely concentrate on Star Wars material, for the time being. Perhaps the project will be transferred or co-produced with DisneyToon Studios or Walt Disney Animation Studios? Who knows. Nice to know it's still potentially in development.

 

Interesting... thanks.