Charlie Chaplin is to return in a new animated series complete in full colour and 3-D! Eleven and half million dollars is behind this joint adventure with DQ Entertainment, MK2 and Method Animation. Planned are 104 six-minute episodes, all with original content, and with no talking.
Countries involved included, France, Germany, Britain, Switzerland and Scandinavia, India and Australia. Nothing mentioned for the USA, so US fans will have to wait. Plans to hit the screens by 2011.
The eight-million-euro (11.5-million-dollar) project is a joint venture with French media groups Method Animation and MK2, the companies said at a news conference in Mumbai Friday.
A total of 104 six-minute episodes without dialogue will be made, inspired by sketches and gags culled from 70 short films made by Chaplin involving his iconic bowler-hatted vagabond character with a toothbrush moustache and cane.
But there will also be original content, Method president Aton Soumache told reporters.
DQ chairman and chief executive Tapaas Chakravarti said the project, for which the firms have been given approval from the Chaplin estate, would be "better than Mr Bean" -- British comic Rowan Atkinson's accident-prone buffoon.
"(Mr Bean) has delighted everyone for a number of years... It's very, very clear that to tickle people's funny bones you don't really have to talk all the time and silent movies can work. Chaplin did it for so many years," he added.
"We are absolutely sure that we have to get Chaplin back for 21st century kids and parents."
The animated shorts -- aimed at children aged six and above -- are set to hit screens from early next year, Chakravarti said. - AFP (more at this link)
From Variety:
"A 45-second clip played at the press meet showed an animated Chaplin performing one of his trademark pratfalls against a New York City backdrop. The mobile phone he uses is shaped like an old fashioned telephone in keeping with the companies’ ambition to blend early 20th century with the present day.
The companies plan to exploit the series across television, mobile, homevid and Internet platforms. The €8 million ($11.4 million) production cost has been raised from pre-sales. The series is expected to be ready by spring 2011." - Full Variety story here
Latest
January 10, 2010 - Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment