Bicoastal Chelsea Pictures has signed independent reps Annie Bossingham and Brad Grubaugh of Boss Talent, Venice, Calif., to handle the West Coast….Colleen McHale has joined Zooma Zooma, New York, to handle East Coast sales….David Marcellino has come aboard wild(child), New York, in the position of head of development. He will be in charge of branding, marketing, new ventures and new business for wild(child), as well as sister shops Voodoo Design and Mac Sound….Lindsay Hood has joined visual effects/motion design/ animation house Spin as its sales and marketing account executive. She is based in the Toronto office of Spin, which also maintains operations in Vancouver, B.C., and Atlanta….DP Giles Dunning has signed with Innovative Artists, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation in commercials, music videos and features….DP Florian Stadler has wrapped principal photography on West of Brooklyn, directed by Danny Cistone, and is again available exclusively via the Lyons Sheldon Prosnit Agency, Los Angeles….
DreamWorks Animation Hits 30 With A New Hit Different From The Norm: “The Wild Robot”
Filmmaker Chris Sanders had finally cracked "The Wild Robot."
Peter Brown's middle-grade book, about an intelligent robot living in the wilderness, had been sitting on the shelf at DreamWorks Animation for a bit. No one had quite figured it out. Then Sanders, the man behind beloved animated features from "Lilo & Stitch" to "How to Train Your Dragon," came along.
His vision, however, was different from the norm: The story started without zippy dialogue and didn't follow traditional beats. He also wanted to embrace a more illustrated style that melded analog warmth with computer generated imagery capabilities, which was finally technologically possible. Before he got too deep, he needed to make sure the studio was on board.
"They said, 'That's the reason we bought the book. We want to do something different,'" Sanders said. "One of the great strengths of DreamWorks is they're willing to try new things. To everybody's credit, they stayed the course."
And it's already paying off. "The Wild Robot" opened No. 1 in theaters nationwide this weekend, riding in on a wave of critical acclaim. Sanders didn't know it at the time but something bigger was at play too: "The Wild Robot" would be released coinciding with the studio's 30th anniversary.
It wasn't so long ago that DreamWorks was the new kid on the block. The upstart, founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, was in October 1994 the first new studio in 60 years. Since their first animated release ("Antz," in 1998), DreamWorks Animation has released 49 feature films that have grossed more than $17 billion at the box office. They have major franchises, including "Shrek," which became the first best animated feature Oscar winner, "Kung Fu Panda" and "How to... Read More