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August too will be a host to two animated movies who are as varied as a chalk and a cheese. Adult animated movie lovers be party ready for Sausage Party as it arrives on 12 August. The first American R-rated computer animated movie tells a story told about food products who are excited when they are picked up from the supermarket but when they reach home, they see how the meal is prepared and are scared to die in such horrible manner. The team from SuperBad, Pineapple Express is on writing and production duties and the film is filled with Hollywood stars. Being the first R-Rated animated movie, this could open doors for a number of animated films going forward. Animated films have previously been all about doing good and followed the good vs. evil ideology but with Sausage Party expect explicitly evil stuff and yes don’t bring your kids along.
After Caroline, Paranorman and Boxtrolls, Laika is once again ready to enthral audience with its simple yet very interesting storytelling with Kubo and the Two Strings. This will also mark the debut of Travis Knight, CEO of Laika and son of Phil Knight, founder and chairman of Nike. Laika is known for its 3D stop motion animation and Kubo and the Two Strings will be no different. It is a story of young Japanese boy Kubo and how old spirits haunt him. He must find a magical suit his father used to wear and turn into a legendary Samurai. This one is comes to theatres on 19 August.
The baby delivering Storks make way on 23 September. This is the second movie from newly formed Warner Animation Group (WAG) which had a successful debut with The Lego Movie. Co-directed by an experienced animator Douglas Sweetland who has been part of movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and many more, this movie is about a stork who accidentally produces an unauthorised baby long after his delivering company has stopped the production. He must do anything to fix the situation before the big boss finds out.
Based on the Troll dolls toys, Trolls is the second offering from Dreamworks Animation this year. After the 3 movie release debacle last year which resulted in huge layoffs at Dreamworks Glendale, Jeffrey Katzenberg went on record to say that from 2016 Dreamworks would be focusing on producing quality content and limiting the studio to 2 movie a year cycle. Having already tasted a mammoth success with Kung Fu Panda 3, this movie will take the musical route with Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake on board. Hitting theatres on 14 October this movie will present the audience with origin of the colourful hair of Trolls and their journey to a far off land than their own.
Disney’s latest offering from the fabled tales Moana is about a fierce girl who sets sail to find fantasy islands with a demi god Maui. Like Dreamworks, this is Disney’s second film of the year, first being Zootopia, but Disney has a more easy approach with each animated features as the last one came in 2014 in the form of Oscar winning Big Hero 6. This is also the first time since Disney has released two films in the same year since 2002 when Lilo & Stich and less remembered Treasure Planet were released. Coincidentally, Treasure Planet was also directed by Ron Clements and John Musker who are helming Moana which releases on 23 November.
Illumination Entertainment will be breaking its own rule of one movie a year with a second movie outing set for Christmas release this same year. Sing is about a koala who wants to save his theatre from going under the hammer and so has decided to organise singing contest open to all. This one opens in theatres on 21 December.
With 11 big movies lined up for the year ahead, this is surely one of the years when live action movies will feel the heat from their animated counterparts. One of the biggest success story for animation is the art of storytelling be it in a 2D, 3D or even stop motion animated movie format. The big studios have come to realise that animation is not just limited to adolescent crowd but also caters to large number of mature audience. The sensibilities and the techniques make these animated movies far more visually engaging leading a huge audience.
So far the numbers are positive for the animated feature films, we will have to wait and watch how 2016 pans out for the animated movies.