Yet another film is about to get a big screen treatment. This time it will be an adoption of the 2015 Academy Award – nominated animated short, The Dam Keeper which was written and directed by Robert Kondo and Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi.
Fox Animation and Tonko House will be collaborating for the project. Kondo and Tsutsumi, who are former art directors of Pixar and have worked on films like Toy Story 3, Monster’s University, Ratatouille would be directing the movie. They are also the founders of Tonko House. 20th Century Fox will be distributing the movie. Independent producer Kan Lee and Blue Sky Studios will be producing the project. Screenwriter John Henry Hinkel has also been brought in for the project.
The story of the short, which was voice-less speaks of an introvert and bullied pig who lives in a windmill and protects the down from a corrupting fog and his relationship with a new student in school, an artistically inclined fox.
“Since we began working on the story for a feature set in the world of The Dam Keeper, we wondered who the right partners would be to help us take the next steps with Pig and Fox and guide us in introducing them to audiences in this rapidly changing world. We feel that 20th Century Fox, with both its longstanding track record and the exciting direction it’s headed, is the ideal home for our characters. We are so excited about the risks we are taking together and the new storytelling possibilities that exist.” said Kondo and Tsutsumi in a joint statement.
The movie will pick up from the events set several events after the short. The CG movie will also be full of voice arts. Kondo and Tsutsumi are currently penning and illustrating the graphic novel trilogy of ‘The Dam Keeper’ for Macmillan and will be released sometime in 2017. A 10-episode series is also being developed for Hulu in Japan.