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French animation company Folivari is producing animated coming-of-age feature The Wild Inside with Patrick Imbert to direct.

Based on Jamey Bradbury’s novel of the same name, the film follows an Alaskan girl forced to confront her connection to nature and wild animals after her mother goes missing.

It marks Imbert’s third collaboration with Folivari following Cesar award-winner The Summit Of Gods and 2018 nominee The Big Bad Fox And Other Tales.

Folivari was founded in 2014 by Damien Brunner, Thibaut Ruby and Didier Brunner who previously produced the Oscar-nominated animations Ernest And Celestine and The Triplets Of Belleville.

The company...

This Holiday Season, You’Re Invited To Take Flight On A Funny, Feathered, Family Adventure Of A Lifetime! From The Creators Of Despicable Me And The Studio That Brought You The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Illumination Presents Migration.

Rated PG. Only In Theaters This Christmas.

https://www.migration.movie/tickets/

The special screening is at 10am on Saturday, Dec 16th at Ronnie’s Cine (Doors Open at 9Am) There will be activities, games & prizes for the kids!!

Enter At The Link: http://gofobo.com/OLvgI10421

This holiday season, Illumination invites you to take flight into the thrill of the unknown with a funny, feathered family vacation like no other in the action-packed new original comedy, Migration.

The Mallard family is in a bit of rut. While dad Mack is content to keep his family safe paddling around their New England pond forever, mom Pam is eager to shake things up...

Fall is in full swing, and before you know it, winter will arrive and flocks of birds will embark on their journey south for their migration. Illumination Studios is following up their Minions series and the new video game adaptation smash hit, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with the particular story of a mallard flock who get side-tracked on their venture to Jamaica and find themselves fish out of water, so to speak, in the big city amongst a bunch of strange birds. The new trailer has just been released and gives audiences more of a peek at the plot.

The official synopsis from Illumination reads,

The Mallard family is in a bit of rut. While dad Mack is content to keep his family safe paddling around their New England pond forever, mom Pam is eager to shake things up and show their kids—teen son Dax and duckling daughter Gwen—the whole wide world.

"Why are we the only birds heading this way?" Illumination has revealed an official trailer for Migration, the next new original animation from Illumination. Set to open in December, this is a better trailer than the first teaser in April. A family of ducks try to convince their overprotective father to go on the vacation of a lifetime As the Mallard Family makes their way South for the winter, their well-laid plans quickly go awry. The experience will inspire them to expand their horizons, open up to new friends and accomplish more than they ever thought possible. The impressive voice cast features Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, David Mitchell, Carol Kane, Caspar Jennings, Tresi Gazal, and Danny DeVito. It's written by Mike White, yes of "White Lotus" and School of Rock, and is directed by the acclaimed French animation filmmaker Benjamin Renner, of the films Ernest & Celestine...

This holiday season, Illumination, creators of the blockbuster Minions, Despicable Me, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets comedies, invites you to take flight into the thrill of the unknown with a funny, feathered family vacation like no other in the action-packed new original comedy, Migration.

The Mallard family is in a bit of rut. While dad Mack is content to keep his family safe paddling around their New England pond forever, mom Pam is eager to shake things up and show their kids – teen son Dax and duckling daughter Gwen – the whole wide world. After a migrating duck family alights on their pond with thrilling tales of far-flung places, Pam persuades Mack to embark on a family trip, via New York City, to tropical Jamaica.

As the Mallards make their way South for the winter, their well-laid plans quickly go awry. The experience will inspire them to expand their horizons,...

Illumination founder Chris Meledandri has confirmed he is working on new projects with Pharrell Williams and Pierre Coffin at the Annecy International Film Festival.

Both Meledandri and Williams talked briefly about the project after the artist made a surprise appearance at the festival to present the animation supremo with its Golden Ticket lifetime achievement award on Wednesday.

The pair have been friends ever since Williams wrote the soundtrack and theme song for Illumination’s first film Despicable Me.

Williams is currently in France putting the final touches to his first collection as creative director for Louis Vuitton, which will be unveiled as the opening show of Men’s Fashion Week in Paris on June 20.

Quizzed by Deadline for more details on the project in a brief one-on-one after the ceremony, Meledandri said it was too early to divulge anything more about the project.

“It’s too early to talk about.

Annecy — Opening under the pall of Thursday’s knife attack, – which prompted a spirited show of solidarity and communal defiance at its opening ceremony on Sunday – this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival has never been bigger. Creativity is exploding, from “Spider-Verse” and beyond.

Animation is flowering in India and Africa.

Yet studio work, much courtesy of streamer orders, may rebound, but never return to the halcyon levels of the last few years. Theatrical for most animation titles has yet to return, moreover – save for extraordinary mega-blockbusters such as “Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” 10 takes on this year’s Annecy, the biggest animation festival on the world:

The Big Plays

Three – and nearly four – high-profile U.S. movies world premiere at Annecy: Disney’s “Once Upon A Studio,” a 100th anniversary celebratory short; DreamWorks Animation’s comedy fantasy “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”; and Netflix’s...

The Peter Pan & Wendy cast features a wide variety of actors, ranging from seasoned stars to young performers making their first-ever movie appearance. A live-action remake of Disney’s classic animated Peter Pan movie from 1953, Peter Pan & Wendy revolves around the titular duo’s adventure to the magical world of Neverland where they contend with a notorious pirate named Captain Hook. Peter Pan & Wendy is director David Lowery’s second Disney movie after Pete’s Dragon, one of the earliest and most critically acclaimed in the Mouse House’s ongoing series of live-action remakes of its classics.

There are both familiar faces and promising up-and-comers in the Peter Pan & Wendy cast. The title characters are played by relative newcomers – Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson, respectively – but the supporting cast includes screen icons like Jude Law, Jim Gaffigan, and the young but prolific Yara Shahidi. During the long...

"With deployment?" "Check!" Illumination has unveiled a first look announcement teaser for Migration, the next new animation movie from Illumination. This is timed with the release of their other movie this year, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and this teaser will be playing in front of that. There's no voice cast list revealed yet, thought the movie now has a final release date - December 22nd at the end of the year. It's written by Mike White, yes of "White Lotus", and is directed by the acclaimed French animation filmmaker Benjamin Renner, of the films Ernest & Celestine and The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales. In this comedy about birds, a family of ducks try to convince their overprotective father to go on the vacation of a lifetime. Since this is an original idea, they have to tie it in with all the other franchises - hence this first introduction.

This story about “The Summit of the Gods” first appeared in the special animation section in the Awards Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

Based on the manga by Jirô Taniguchi and Baku Yumemakura, the breathtaking French-language animated feature “The Summit of the Gods” searches for meaning at inhospitable heights. The drama set in the 1990s chronicles two quests, one of headstrong climber Habu (voiced by Eric Herson-Macarel) bent on conquering Mount Everest alone, and one involving photojournalist Fukamachi (Damien Boisseau) seeking grandeur by potentially finding a camera that belonged to George Mallory, the real-life mountaineer who disappeared in 1953 while attempting to climb the same peak. Inevitably, their paths overlap.

Director Patrick Imbert wasn’t familiar with the material until renowned producers Damien Brunner and Didier Brunner at Folivari approached him. He immediately appreciated the story’s potential for animation and began sorting through the passages to adapt it...

It’s been another strange year. Perhaps more so than ever, the way films have been released has been in a confusing state of flux. What’s coming to cinemas? If it makes it how many screenings will it actually have? What’s going to which streaming service, and when? There have been a lot of excellent movies released in 2021, but sifting through them has been challenging, even if you’re doing your best to keep up.

Here, the HeyUGuys team have a few suggestions for things that may have slipped through the cracks, but which we think you should catch up with.

Daniel Goodwin Recommends

The Summit of the Gods (Patrick Imbert)

Based on the Jiro Taniguchi manga, this visually breath-taking, staggeringly dramatic, 90s set, French animated feature tells the tale of Nepal based, Japanese photojournalist Makato Fukamachi (Damien Boisseau), who happens upon the old Kodak camera of a...

Netflix’s “The Summit of the Gods” (opening November 24 in select theaters and streaming November 30) accomplishes something new and immersive in 2D animation: the beauty, excitement, and danger of scaling Mount Everest. However, for French director Patrick Imbert (“The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales”), this was not about soaring new heights in animation, but exploring the obsession with mountain climbing.

“You use the tools that you bring with telling a movie story,” said Imbert, a former animation supervisor who teamed up with producers Didier Brunner, Damien Brunner, Jean-Charles Ostorero (who co-scripted), and Stéphan Roelants. “And that’s why we use image, sound design, and music [by Amine Bouhafa] to create something that doesn’t exist outside. Of course, I know and love some animation a lot, but most of my influences are live-action movies. For example, [Stanley] Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon.’ One thing I learned is that many different things happen to that character,...

Rich Ting (“Warrior”), Darren Barnet (“Never Have I Ever”) and Keiko Agena (“Better Call Saul”) have been tapped to lead the voice cast for the English-language dub of Netflix’s “The Summit of the Gods,” from César award-winning filmmaker Patrick Imbert.

Based on the acclaimed manga by Jirô Taniguchi and the novel by Baku Yumemakura, “The Summit of the Gods” poses the question, “Were George Mallory and his companion Andrew Irvine the first men to scale Everest on June 8th, 1924? Only the little Vestpocket Kodak camera they took with them might reveal the truth.”

“The Summit of the Gods” picks up in Kathmandu, 70 years after Mallory and Irvine’s journey, when a young Japanese reporter named Fukamachi Makoto (Barnet) recognizes the camera in the hands of the mysterious Habu Joji (Ting), an outcast climber believed missing for years. As the plot progresses, Fukamachi enters a world of obsessive mountaineers on...

Neon/Participant’s Oscar buzzy animated doc, “Flee,” won the Grand Prize at the fourth annual Animation Is Film Festival, held last weekend at the Tcl Chinese 6 Theater in Hollywood. This follows Sundance doc and Annecy animation wins for the Danish entry in this season’s international Oscar race.

“Flee,” directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, tells the true story of Amin Nawabi as he grapples with his secret past as an Afghan refugee on the verge of marrying his husband.

“In the touching and innovative documentary ‘Flee,’ Jonas Poher Rasmussen takes great care in sharing the personal history of an Afghan refugee. The filmmaker uses the process of animation to protect the identity of his subject, while also bringing an added layer to the material, capturing the impact of trauma on memory and identity in the process,” said Jury chair Peter Debruge, chief Variety film critic.

“Belle,” the GKids contender,...

With awards season fast approaching, it’s looking like this could be the year animation awards finally grow up. With Sundance winner “Flee” earning early buzz, there’s clearly a growing appetite for more mature animated fare in the U.S. Entering into the fray this year is “The Summit of the Gods,” a sweeping 2D animation from French director Patrick Imbert. Adapted from the acclaimed manga series of the same name, “The Summit of the Gods” follows a Japanese adventure photographer and mountaineer obsessed with finding a legendary climber attempting to scale Mount Everest. IndieWire is proud to premiere the trailer exclusively below.

Here’s the official synopsis, per Netflix: “Were George Mallory and his companion Andrew Irvine the first men to scale Everest on June 8, 1924? Only the little Vestpocket Kodak camera they took with them might reveal the truth. In Kathmandu, 70 years later, a young Japanese reporter...

The fourth edition of the Animation Is Film festival (Aif) returns in-person October 22-24 to the Tcl Chinese 6 in Hollywood, and will kick off opening night with the North American premiere of Netflix’s “The Summit of the Gods,” the breathtaking French 2D feature from director Patrick Imbert (“The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales”), who will do an in-person Q&a.

“The Summit of the Gods” (opening November 24 in select theaters and streaming November 30) is adapted from the popular manga and concerns a Japanese adventure photographer and mountain climber obsessed with finding a legendary climber obsessed with scaling Mount Everest.

Other highlights include the West Coast premieres of GKids’ “Belle” on October 23 and Neon’s award-winning “Flee” on October 24. “Belle” is the musical fantasy 2D reworking of “Beauty and the Beast” from Oscar-nominated anime master Mamoru Hosoda (“Mirai”), who will do an in-person Q&a. “Flee” (December 3) is the...

Exclusive: Netflix has taken worldwide rights to animated feature The Summit Of The Gods (Le Sommet Des Dieux). Based on Jiro Taniguchi and Baku Yumemakura’s best selling manga, the movie debuted in the Cinema de la Plage section at the Cannes Film Festival this past July. Netflix is planning a theatrical release in select U.S. theaters on November 24, followed by select cinemas in the UK on November 26 and will put it on the streaming service on November 30.

Patrick Imbert (The Big Bad Fox And Other Tales) directs the film that poses the question: Were George Mallory and his companion Andrew Irvine the first men to scale Everest on June 8, 1924? And sets in motion a quest for the truth.

The synopsis tells us that only the little Kodak camera Mallory and Irvine took with them might reveal the real story. Seventy years after their feat,...

"Mega is going to help me!" Blue Fox Ent. has released an official Us trailer for an indie French animated film titled SamSam, a sci-fi adventure for the whole family. SamSam appears to have it all: his own flying saucer and great family and friends. But the one thing he has yet to attain are actual superpowers. But he's soon about to figure them out – while learning what it really takes to fight monsters and how many ways there are to be a hero. Developed by animation studio Folivari, this is adapted from the TV series by the same director who created it. Featuring the voices of Isaac Lobé-Lebel, Lior Chabbat, Jérémy Prévost, Sébastien Desjours, Léopold Vom Dorp, Victoire Pauwels, Léovanie Raud, Simon Brunner, and Françoise Pavy. The Us release includes an English dub as well. This looks a bit cheesy but also visually unique, which certainly piques my ...

Annecy 2020 Online’s first wave of special programming for its world-class French animation festival (June 15-30) will include making of sessions, previews, and works-in-progress. The biggest news is that indie feature “Animal Crackers,” which premiered at Annecy in 2017, returns as a making of program, having been acquired by streamer Netflix.

The CG children’s fantasy, directed by Tony Bancroft (“Mulan”) and Scott Christan Sava, concerns a magical box of cookies coming to the rescue of a rundown circus. It contains voice work by John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, and boasts the work of character designer Carter Goodrich (“Ice Age”).

Netflix is also bringing a work-in-progress presentation of “The Cuphead Show!” series for 2021, adapted from retro-style video game by showrunners Dave Wasson (“Mickey Mouse”) and Cosmo Segurson (“SpongeBob Squarepants”). Drawing on the classic ’30s rubber hose animation style of Disney and Fleischer, the comedy follows the misadventures of the impulsive Cuphead and his naive brother,...

Netflix, China’s Alibaba and France have thrown their weight behind the Annecy Animation Festival, with the festival set to showcase an in progress reveal of the U.S. streaming giant’s “The Cupcake Show!” plus a look back at cult movie “Animal Crackers,” as well as six French productions in its Work in Progress section, Annecy’s single most important program strand.

Distributed by Alibaba Pictures Group, “New Gods: Nezha Reborn,” from Ji Zhao, follows on the highest grossing animated movie ever in a single territory, earning over $700 million in China.

French productions are led by the hugely awaited “The Summit of the Gods,” produced by Jean-Charles Ostorero and the most ambitious movie to date from Didier and Damien Brunner.

Also in the French Wip mix is “The Island,” the latest from Romania’s Anca Damian, who won Annecy’s top pirize with “Crilic: The Path to Beyond,” as...

Company brings 10 recent sales acquisitions to the market also including feature animation The Summit Of The Gods.

Wild Bunch has boarded sales on Italian director Michele Placido’s upcoming drama Caravaggio’s Shadow, exploring the tempestuous life of the 17th-century painter.

It revolves around a secret Vatican investigation into Caravaggio, ordered by Pope Paul V as he debates whether to grant the artist clemency for murdering a love rival.

Riccardo Scamarcio plays Caravaggio opposite Louis Garrel as the investigator – known as The Shadow. Isabelle Huppert also features as a noblewoman who was a steadfast protector of the artist, hiding him...