Upcoming Animated Films - My Thoughts (Part 16)

Illumination Entertainment pretty much proved to the animation industry that they could be fierce competition. With the unexpected success of their debut Despicable Me and the success of Hop, they are now one of the big competitors. Universal is also very confident in them. Their next animated film comes out next month (Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax), which is a guaranteed success, followed by Despicable Me 2 in 2013. They’re all set. It seems like most of their upcoming projects will animated comedies, much like most of DreamWorks' upcoming films along with some of Sony Animation's upcoming films.

I’ve left out two of their upcoming projects, the untitled Dr. Seuss biopic starring Johnny Depp and Gospel for Teens, since they are both live-action films.

The Addams Family

Tim Burton will direct this stop-motion animation take (yay!) on the classic show, which has been adapted into an animated series twice, first in 1973 and again in 1992. (Pictured above) This project is perfect for him. Enough said. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter will probably provide the voices of Gomez and Morticia.

Curious George

Back in 2006, a hand-drawn Curious George film was done by Universal and Imagine. Now Illumination is going to give it a shot. This will probably be a computer animated film, and nothing like the 2006 film. Expect this one to be a fun romp.

Emily the Strange

Rob Reger has been trying to make a film adaptation of his character, Emily the Strange, for years. Chloe Moretz will provide the voice of the title character, and Mirror Mirror scribe will write. (Shudder) Not sure how this will turn out.

Flanimals

This project is based on Ricky Gervais’ children’s books of the same name. The designs of the characters are well-suited for an animated film. I expect this one will be a lot of fun.

Pluto

Pluto is a classic manga by Osamu Tezuka, but here’s hoping Illumination’s computer animated film adaptation won’t turn out like Summitt’s Astro Boy did back in 2009.

Uglydolls

The creators of the Uglydoll line, David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, will produce this film adaptation. Like Flanimals, the designs of the Uglydoll characters seem perfect for an animated feature. This could work as a fun comedy.

Untitled Cryptozoology Project

Not much is known about this project. Jack Black is involved with it. I’m assuming this is going to be about bigfoot, yetis, the Loch Ness monster and all kinds of interesting creatures. Again, this is perfect for animation.

Woody Woodpecker

Another retro cartoon/comic revival. Woody Woodpecker could turn out to be a fun romp if done right. It’ll probably be computer animated. Two King of the Hill writers will handle the script.