Loved the first one — and the second one does not look like it will disappoint:

According to the chart above, originally posted on The Animation Guild blog, last month DreamWorks employed 799 union artists, which matches the combined number of union artists employed by Nickelodeon, Fox, Film Roman, Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network. Granted, companies like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network produce countless non-union shows outside of their main studios, but as far as LA animation employment is concerned, DreamWorks rules the roost.

Hollywood has been taking classic animated cartoons and converting them to live action features for years. Now, The New York Times is reporting that Conrad Vernon (Monsters Vs. Aliens) will direct an animated version of Sid and Marty Kroft’s 1973 live-action Saturday morning show Lidsville, for Dreamworks.

I love the Kroft shows and Lidsville was one of the stranger ones (if that can be imagined). According to the Times piece, Vernon says:

“When I talk to a lot of adults about this, they look back and go ‘Oh, that show was great but it was so weird.’ And that’s what made me want to watch every single day.”

As anyone who still knows the “Lidsville” theme song by heart can tell you, the original series centered on a boy named Mark (played by Butch Patrick of “The Munsters”) who discovers a world of anthropomorphized hats, headpieces and chapeaus. There he befriends characters like Rah-Rah the football helmet and Nursie the nurse’s cap, and is pursued by a green-skinned magician named Horatio J. HooDoo (played with scenery-chewing zest by Charles Nelson Reilly).

Above right, the first piece of concept art from DreamWorks’ forthcoming Mr. Peabody and Sherman. A bigger version of the concept art is after the jump. Your thoughts on this design?
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From the writers of the recent Yogi Bear movie (Jeffrey Ventimilia and Joshua Sternin), the director of Stuart Little and The Lion King (Rob Minkoff) and the studio that brings you more Shrek than you know what to do with… comes a new movie, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, based on the cartoon from Jay Ward’s Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. Entertainment Weekly has announced that Robert Downey Jr. (the current voice of Mr. Peanut) will voice Mr. Peabody.

Let’s hope its even half as good as this: