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Following the success of I Am Frankelda, Mexican filmmakers Roy and Arturo Ambriz are taking their long-gestating stop-motion fantasy, The Ballad of the Phoenix, to this year’s Venice Gap-financing market, a key step toward bringing the Guillermo del Toro-backed feature to the big screen.
The White House made another ignominious impression this week when it launched an online arcade featuring crudely made, openly racist video games that turn migrant detention and deportation into “entertainment.” Meanwhile, Skibidi Toilet is entering a new era without its creator, Alexey Gerasimov, who remains an executive producer but is no longer involved in developing or producing new episodes.
For exclusives this week, we got an up-close look at Austin McConnell’s wildly ambitious indie production Atlas: The Animated Movie; Kim Yeonwoo took us behind the scenes to explain how a legless pigeon inspired her gothic Fantoche selection Fingerbang; and The Raccoons creator Kevin Gillis shared some brilliant BTS artwork from the legendary Canadian series and discussed a planned return for the cartoon.
In other headlines, Powerhouse Animation will handle the hand-drawn feature adaptation of Charlie “MoistCr1TiKaL” White’s comic Godslap; China’s handmade animated feature Niu Lai, created largely by a mother-and-son team, is now projected to top $9 million after selling fewer than 300 tickets during its first ten days in theaters; and Paramount has announced a 4K and Blu-ray release for Avatar: Aang – The Last Airbender after mishandling its theatrical rollout.
Finally, Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn and Laika’s Wildwood will make their world premieres at next month’s animation-heavy BFI London Film Festival.
Check out these stories and more at cartoonbrew.com.
