Touchstone Pictures and Lucasfilm Ltd have released the first official trailer for George Lucas’ animated film Strange Magic (2014). The film will open in theatres across the nation on 23 January, 2015.
The wacky fairy tale musical is inspired by Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Popular songs from the past six decades help tell the tale of a colourful cast of goblins, elves, fairies and imps, and their hilarious misadventures sparked by the battle over a powerful potion. Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and Industrial Light & Magic, which created the CGI animation for 2011’s Academy Award-winning film Rango, bring to life the fanciful forest turned upside down with world-class animation and visual effects.
Strange Magic is produced by Lucas, directed by Gary Rydstrom (Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation), produced by Mark S. Miller (associate producer of Mars Attacks!) and executive-produced by Lucas, with a screenplay by David Berenbaum (Elf), Irene Mecchi (Brave) and Rydstrom.
There are plenty of jokes as well as singing and action. Frogs, lizards, mice and quite a few forest creatures round out the cast of characters.
The movie boasts an impressive cast of actors and singers who know their way around a Broadway stage. Actors Alan Cumming (The Good Wife), Evan Rachel Wood (The Ides of March), Kristin Chenoweth (Broadway’s “Wicked”), Maya Rudolph (Big Hero 6), Sam Palladio (Nashville), Alfred Molina (Chocolat), Elijah Kelley (Hairspray), Bob Einstein (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Peter Stormare (Fargo) and newcomer Meredith Anne Bull will lend their voices to the colourful cast of forest characters.
Like Moulin Rouge and Mamma Mia, Strange Magic tells its story with covers of familiar songs, drawn from the past sixty years, according to Lucasfilm. Some of the musical performances in the film will include Cumming singing Deep Purple’s Mistreated, Chenoweth taking on Love is Strange and Wood singing Heart’s Straight On. Elvis Presley’s hit Can’t Help Falling in Love will also be included in the film.
The trailer reveals a few of the other cover songs, which include Wild Thing popularized by the Troggs, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch by the Four Tops and Michael Franti’s song Say Hey was chosen specifically by Lucas for the film.