Telescope Animation, a young German production company, has announced its first slate of upcoming projects. They reflect the company’s commitment to working across a range of media.
Leading the slate is The Last Whale Singer, an original animated feature due for release in 2023. Currently in development, it was presented today at Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading pitching forum for animated features. The director is Reza Memari (A Stork’s Journey), Telescope’s co-founder and co-CEO. The company describes the film as follows:
The film takes audiences to the depths of the oceans with Vincent, a teenage humpback whale whose father possesses the ancestral gift of healing with his mystical song. As Vincent and his companion Percy travel deeper and deeper beneath the sea, fighting off dangers both natural and manmade, the young whale is forced to confront his destiny in order to protect the oceans from an ancient monster.
Although the film will serve as a standalone project, its storyline will be expanded through a prequel game, an ar/vr project, an interactive storybook, and a series for web, tv, or streaming platforms. The game will come out on Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox, and PC. As Memari told Cartoon Brew, “We’re aiming to get it released before the film and really treat it as a standalone project, and NOT as a second-rate movie spin-off.”