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Sony Buys Planet 51 Movie From Warner Bros.Ilion Animation Film Stars Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, John Cleese
Sony has bought the distribution rights for Ilion Animation's film Planet 51 from Warner Bros. Sony will release movie on November 20, 2009.
Sony Pictures has bought the distribution rights for Ilion Animation Studios' Planet 51 from Warner Bros. Sony's subsidiary TriStar will put their name on the film when it comes to theatres on November 20, 2009. According to Variety, Warner Bros. let the film go after Ilion and Handmade Films insisted on a Fall 2009 release for the flick. Warner felt that release date would have conflicted with another family-oriented Warner Bros. film, the live-action Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Handmade Films International's chairman Guy Collins claims to be happy with the switch. "We could not ask for a more ideal partner," Collins told Variety. "Sony is perfectly positioned to maximize the film's box office potential." Planet 51 has had a rough ride when it came to distributors. Ilion and Handmade Films (the film company founded by the late Beatles guitarist George Harrison) had convinced New Line Cinema to buy the $50 million flick. At the time, New Line touted Planet 51 as its first ever CGI animated film. However, New Line crashed amid several box office bombs and Lord of the Rings lawsuits, and Warner Bros. took over New Line's assets. Warner Bros. decided that they were willing to distribute Planet 51, but wanted to release the flick during the summer of 2009. What's Planet 51 About? Here's the synopsis, according to Ilion's website: "On Planet 51, the locals have two antenna, eight fingers and tons of fear about alien invaders. They live in a world like our suburban 1950’s, with sci-fi flicks, gory comic books and paranoid army generals barking about monsters from outer space. "A young inhabitant of Planet 51, Lem (Justin Long), thinks that space can be wonderful, but he lacks the courage to even move out of his parents’ basement. Then one day, out of the sky, an alien ship appears with something funny written on it: NASA. It is piloted by astronaut and ladies man, Captain Russ Baker (Dwayne "don't call him The Rock" Johnson). Russ had expected to plant the American Flag on a barren planet, only to land at someone’s backyard barbecue. "Now Captain Russ Baker’s new friend, Lem, must keep him safe from the fearful authorities and help him recover his confiscated ship to get back home." Joe Stillman (Shrek, Shrek 2) penned the script. Jorge Blanco (co-creator of the video game series Commandos) is directing Planet 51, with assistance from Javier Abad and Marcos Martinez. Jessica Biel (Stealth), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Seann William Scott (The Dukes of Hazzard), and John Cleese (Igor) contribute to the voice cast.
The copyright of the article Sony Buys Planet 51 Movie From Warner Bros. in Hollywood Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish Sony Buys Planet 51 Movie From Warner Bros. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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