Spellbound (2024)

[Bubbles-11]

Skydance Animation has revealed new details and a new image from its upcoming feature Spellbound ahead of the film’s big Annecy panel on June 13. The musical fairy tale, which will premiere on Apple TV+ in 2024. The feature tells the story of a terrible spell that has turned a king and queen into monsters, leaving their daughter, Princess Ellian (voiced by Rachel Ziegler), to manage the kingdom on her own. The pic is directed by Vicky Jenson, who won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Shrek.

The voice cast is led by Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), Academy Award-nominee John Lithgow, Jennifer Lewis, and Nathan Lane with Academy Award-winner Nicole Kidman and Academy Award-winner Javier Bardem also voicing roles. Award-winning talent Tituss Burgess (Schmigadoon, Central Park, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has also joined the voice cast. Spellbound also features an original score and original songs from eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas), with lyrics by Oscar nominee Glenn Slater (Tangled).

The script was written by Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin (Mulan) and Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) and the film is produced by John Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Bruce Anderson for Skydance Animation.

https://www.animationmagazine.net/20...al-spellbound/

[Bubbles-11]

Skydance Animation and Apple Studios have ended their distribution deal, they have now inked a new deal with Netflix for Spellbound and future films, including Pookoo (set for 2025) and Brad Bird's passion project Ray Gunn. Spellbound is set to debut sometime next year, likely in the fall.
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/s...nd-1235760939/

[Bubbles-11]

[Bubbles-11]

Release Date: Friday November 22nd on Netflix

[Bubbles-11]

Meanwhile, there are the questions swirling in the animation community about the absence of Lasseter, the former creative head of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. While Skydance Animation has been touted as an attractive element of a potential Skydance-Paramount hookup (though Paramount has its own animation division, with IP like SpongeBob SquarePants), but in reality, the picture has been complicated. Luck, Skydance Animation’s first feature film under Lasseter, got middling reviews upon its release on AppleTV+ in 2022, though it has performed steadily on the streaming service. (The film had been started before Lasseter was hired but was expensively reworked once he arrived.) Sources say the relationship between Skydance Animation and Apple blew up when the tech giant concluded that other planned projects were too costly and not strong enough creatively. One sticking point was a planned hand-drawn film, Ray Gunn, from Incredibles director Brad Bird for a number exceeding $150 million.

Skydance then shopped the animation deal to other studios, which have their own animation divisions, but none stepped up. In October 2023, Skydance moved its animated feature slate to Netflix, meaning that none of Lasseter’s films has a chance of getting a meaningful theatrical release. And notably, against that backdrop, Lasseter’s health is key, as an informed source says a material change could upend Skydance’s deal with the streamer.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bu...235917956/amp/

[BluBonnet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHGIRpaFgCs

[stigdu]

This doesn't *look* like a particularly faithful remake of the Hitchcock film.

And for that reason, I'm out.

[Bubbles-11]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHGIRpaFgCs

Legitimate question, why is Netflix trying to push Lasseter's involvement when they could be pushing the other members of this film's creative team instead (ex: the film's director, or ALAN MENKEN doing the film's songs)

[Bubbles-11]

New trailer releases tomorrow

[traths]

When I first saw the title of this thread I thought it was some kind of remake of the Alfred Hitchcock film. I didn’t know it was an animated film.

[Bubbles-11]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGQiq1ZuCW8

[Bubbles-11]

The visual style of the movie is a seamless integration of stylized storybook ideals and aesthetics, as well as fantasy elements realized in a believable and grounded manner. “I have long been inspired by the artists of early Golden Books such as Mary Blair and Alice and Martin Provensen,” says Jenson. “There is a graphic but charming feel to their work as well as sophisticated way of handling a lot of rich color that I love. When I came across two of our main concept artists, the twins Elena and Olivia Ceballos, I recognized kindred spirits and quickly put them to work. They were vital in conceiving our Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness and the ephemeral Lake of Light.”

For the film’s production designer, Brett Nystul, one of the appealing qualities of the production was that it drew inspiration from Disney’s classic artists as well as an eclectic variety of real-world architecture and flora and fauna. “One of the cool things about Spellbound is that we had artists from all over the world on our creative team,” says Nystul, whose numerous credits include features such as Rise of the Guardians, The Croods, The Secret Life of Pets and Minions. “Of course, most of them are from Spain, as our studio is in Madrid, but we also have artists from South America, Eastern Europe and Italy. So, the overall look of the movie owes a lot to everybody putting their heads together and sort of evolving in its own special way.”

“I think the movie’s emotional honesty makes it really special,” says story editor Brian Pimental, an animation veteran who has worked on many beloved films include Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, A Goofy Movie, Rio, The LEGO Movie 2 and Bambi II. “It doesn’t shy away from real emotions. I am also proud of the inventiveness of the story and the set pieces and the way it uses a fantasy world in a new way. I hope the movie will be remembered for the way it shows that life always doesn’t follow a straight line; that it’s futile to try to hold on to things and the way things were, because everything changes. In the beginning of the movie, Ellian looks at love from a child’s point of view, but later, she must accept that love is not always guaranteed. I also love the message that you should always look for the light, even when you are surrounded by darkness.”

Jenson echoes this feeling: “There was a concerted effort to not sugarcoat the depth and power of the emotions our characters were feeling. We worked very closely with clinical psychologist Dr. JoAnne Pedro-Carroll, who guided us through the issues, stages and truth of families going through this difficult time. The last thing we wanted to do was Parent Trap the story!”

https://www.animationmagazine.net/20...dance-netflix/

[Farerb]

Why does no one care about this film??

[BudBaxter]

Because it's on Netflix.

[terp_fan99]

Luck was disappointing and this seems like it’s getting the same mediocre reviews