Sony Pictures Animation Reveals Bold, Expanded Production Slate at Annecy 2019

 In an expansive mode after the huge critical, commercial and Academy Award validation for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Sony Pictures Animation announced at Annecy on Wednesday that China’s Tencent has boarded Jackie Chan’s “Wish Dragon,” plus a reimagining of “The Boondocks,”  horror series “Hungry Ghosts,” comedy series “Superbago” and two new Genndy Tartakovsky movies.

Having introduced herself and Sony Pictures Animation and its drive to make movies which are “different, which will stand out from the pack,” Belson also unveiled unseen scenes from the “The Angry Birds Movie 2” directed by Thurop Van Orman, opening later this year, and SPA’s 2020 releases “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and “Vivo,” Sony Animation’s first-ever musical featuring original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, with Belson announcing in Annecy that “Zootopia” director Rich Moore has joined the filmmaking team as a producer.


 Belson shared an exclusive sequence from “Angry Birds Movie 2” in which the birds and the pigs use an eight-foot tall eagle costume to penetrate a top-secret fort, with a memorable scene in a men’s restroom. “We love that we’re following up a moody ultra sophisticated “Spider-Verse” with “Angry Birds” because we’re never going to make one type of film,” Belson said.

Produced by Phil Lords and Chris Miller, “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” scheduled for release on Sept. 2020, and “Vivo” are SPA family-skewed movies. In style and substance, if scenes, shown at Annecy were anything to go by, they still push the envelope, however, creating unique visual styles, using some of the learnings and techniques from “Spider-Verse,” but in a completely different way.

”The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” about a family and their grotesque – for some – pug dog caught in a tech uprising, pictures two universes. There’s the human, portraying a chaotic mundane family world which the film celebrates in a painterly handmade way not so far from French 2D animated movies. Then there’s a hugely stylized robot world, filled with fabricated tones of a high-tech universe. These two worlds will collide in visual and dramatic terms.

A faux trailer of “The Mitchells” shown at Annecy showed an emergency broadcast from a cinema theater in which two robots announce there has been no robot apocalypse. That scene drew huge applause at Annecy.

Teased via development artwork shown by Belson,”Vivo,” set in Havana and modern Miami, channels “really unique and distinct styles,” said Belson, These include ‘50s glamor and hip-hop,. Every one of the 10 songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda  are different. Roger Deakins will serve as cinematographer on “Vivo,” Belson announced.

“Sony Pictures Animation is committed to making big, bold movies, where the hand of the artist, the hand of the filmmaker, is strongly felt,” Belson shared. “We celebrate the fact that we do not have a house style. We intend to continue down the path that we are on – bringing all audiences stories from around the world, stories no one else is telling – and do so in a way that pushes the boundaries of animated storytelling.”

Belson shared a work-in-progress version of the studio’s new logo, along with her vision for the studio’s future, which includes two new production initiatives to expand the studio’s output and reach audiences of all ages, across the globe.

SONY PICTURES ANIMATION’S INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE

Academy Award-winning producer Aron Warner (Shrek, The Book of Life) joined Belson onstage to announce Sony Pictures Animation’s international initiative, which he is spearheading. With this initiative, Sony Animation will collaborate with storytellers from different countries around the world to develop and produce a wide variety of animated features for both local and global release.

According to Warner, “We are at a very critical point in our history as humans. The future is all of us working together, learning from each other’s stories, mistakes and triumphs. There are countless great stories out there that most of the world has never heard, and every day there’s a new director, writer or artist with a vision stepping up to the plate to lead a team and create something new. I truly believe this is the next big leap in the art form of animation and I’m honored, humbled and incredibly lucky to be part of this project.”

Warner is currently producing the initiative’s first release, Wish Dragon, an imaginative and touching tale about the power of friendship set in modern-day Shanghai. The film, directed by Chris Appelhans (Coraline) and set to release in China in 2020, is a co-production between Sony Pictures Animation, Beijing Sparkle Roll Media, Tencent and Base Media.

SONY PICTURES ANIMATION’S ALTERNATIVE SLATE

Sony Pictures Animation vice presidents Katie Baron and Kevin Noel joined the stage to announce Sony Animation’s alternative initiative, which is inclusive of a slate of serial projects and features aimed at mature audiences.

“We want to continue to tell stories that speak to modern audiences, while exploring different methods of storytelling that are appealing to new filmmakers and artists,” Noel said. Added Baron, “With this new initiative, we are expanding opportunities for artists inside Sony Animation, and also aiming to attract talent known for their work outside of the family space.”

Baron and Noel unveiled three shows in development at the studio: Hungry Ghosts, Superbago and The Boondocks.

Hungry Ghosts is based on the Dark Horse Graphic Novel by the late Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose. The show will be an anthology of frightening, hilarious, twisted, and culinary-inspired ghost stories. Each episode will range in tone and will look completely different from the last, taking advantage of various forms of animation to best fit each story.

Superbago, a collaboration with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, and previously developed as a feature film at Sony Animation, will be a half-hour comedy that blends Claymation and live-action, and follows the adventures of two dimwitted animated heroes traveling in a very real Winnebago around the actual United States of America.

The return of The Boondocks, a co-production with Sony Pictures Television, is a complete re-imagining of the beloved and wildly rebellious animated satire for this modern era, and chronicles the adventures of the Freeman family against the evil local government tyrant Uncle Ruckus, who rules fictional Woodcrest County, Maryland with an iron fist.

Celebrated animation director Genndy Tartakovsky (Hotel Transylvania, Samurai Jack, Primal) made a surprise appearance to give the audience a first look at visuals from two upcoming animated features he is developing at Sony Animation: Black Knight and Fixed.

Black Knight is an original, action-adventure epic that tells the story of a highly skilled and faithful knight who, after failing to protect his king, must transform himself into the Black Knight to save the kingdom.


Fixed, the studio’s first R-rated comedy, directed by Tartakovsky, is the story of an average, all-around good dog who is in love with the show dog next door, and what happens when he learns that he is going to get neutered in the morning. What does a dog do with his last night out with his besties?