Jones in Escape from Planet Earth
Happy Feet producer will produce animated comedy for Weinsteins
Ed Jones, who produced Happy Feet, and did visual effects for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, will produce Escape from Planet Earth for the Weinstein Company.
(Source: Hollywood Reporter)
Ed Jones, who won a 1989 Oscar for his visual effects work in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, will produce the animated comedy Escape from Planet Earth for Rainmaker Animation. The Weinstein Company (Grindhouse, Hoodwinked) will finance and distribute the flick worldwide.
Escape from Planet Earth is about a motley group of aliens who plot a prison break from that classic source of conspiracy myths, Area 51. Tony Leech will direct the flick, from a script written by Leech and Cory Edwards. The movie is based on an original idea by Leech.
Preston Stutzman of Blue Yonder Films (Hoodwinked), Jonathan Shestack of Jon Shestack Productions, Brian Inerfeld of Protocol and Gregory R. Little of Rainmaker Animation are co-producing the flick with Jones.
Rick Mischel is the executive producer, and Jeremy Stein will also co-produce. Weinstein Company co-president of production Michael Cole and Vice President of production and development Eric Robinson are overseeing the project on behalf of the Weinstein brothers.
Production started last week in Rainmaker's studios in Vancouver, British Columbia. As yet, no voice actors have been cast.
This will be the first theatrical release for Rainmaker Animation.
Steve Nichols, who has worked the CGI on many summer movies ranging from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith to the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, has also joined Rainmaker as animation director.
"We are really excited about the team we've assembled," said Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, "and are absolutely thrilled to be working with Ed and Steve, whose experience and expertise is second to none, and with the fantastic team at Rainmaker."
The Weinstein Company, still reeling from the debacle that was the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse, is desperate for a bona fide hit movie. Most of their movies have (a) only made a profit due to the fact that they were produced on the cheap (Hoodwinked, TMNT) or out-and-out box office bombs (Arthur and the Invisibles, Doogal).
However, their track record isn't slowing them down. The Weinsteins are producing the sequel to their 2005 animated flick Hoodwinked (called Hoodwinked 2: Hood versus Evil) coming out in 2008. Mike D’Isa-Hogan will direct that movie.
The Weinsteins also have the CGI comedy Igor in the pipeline. That movie, about the adventures of the mis-shapen lab assistant, stars the voices of John Cusack, Jeremy Piven, Sean Hayes, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, Jay Leno and John Cleese. According to its IMDb site, it's due November 20, 2008.
Escape from Planet Earth will make three Weinstein animated movies coming out in a single year, since it is also tentatively scheduled for a 2008 theatrical release.
