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The 3D animated film from 20th Century Fox and Ice Age producer Blue Sky Studios is slated to open May 24, 2013. Epic is described as a battle deep in the forest between the forces of good and evil. When a teenage girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team of characters to save that world — which in turn saves the real world. The voice cast includes Beyonce, Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried and Steven Tyler. Ice Age helmer Chris Wedge directed a script by Dan Shere that was developed under the title Leafmen. Here’s the trailer that debuted today.
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That looks terrible — like Ferngully 2.0. To top it all off, that cornball dialogue at the end of the trailer is very similar to the lame “Rio” and its attempt at humor. I have no idea what is going on at Blue Sky, but the review I just saw for “Ice Age 4″ looked horrible.
Paramount is making “Rango,” which was terrific, Illumination is making “The Lorax,” also good, Disney is improving with “Tangled” and “Wreck-it Ralph,” Pixar is still making very good films, and DreamWorks is doing good things with “How To Train Your Dragon” and the new “Madagascar 3.”
Blue Sky feels like it’s still stuck in 2003… “Epic” Fail.
I don’t quite understand the hate for “Rio.” It was fun, Jessie Eisenberg was legitimately funny, it scored well on Rotten Tomatoes (better than “The Lorax”), and did significantly better worlwide box office than Rango.
Ferngully was 20 years ago. Kids don’t know it and beyond some of the surface similarities, this will be a very different story.
If you think Madagascar and The Lorax were more enjoyable than Rio then i think you just have a certain level of enjoyment that differs from most.
Disney is hit or miss. Tangled was excellent but Princess was a bore and Dreamworks also had Monsters VS Aliens.
Blue Sky needs to stop the Ice Age push and this movie looks fantastic.
Pixar is the only place that has an edge and Dreamworks is #2, but everyone else is fighting for Bronze
I like that this looks completely different than anything they have done. It looks inspired.
Visually it looks pretty imaginative and stunning, the ending dialogue scares me a bit, though. Why the title change, too? “Epic” is such a generic title – “Leafmen” actually gave an impression about what this movie is about.
Hmm… interested to see more.
@Andrew, I totally agree. Marketing is hard enough without using bland, meaningless buzzwords. Leafmen was a far better choice.
I’m fairly certain the name-change came on the coattails of “Brave”.
=does a double take=
Brave… Epic… Brave… Epic…
Sadly, Blue Sky is no Pixar – I don’t see the title change working for them.
I honestly don’t see the name change helping or hurting. Also, it’s worth noting that director Chris Wedge had an out in his Fox contract and an offer on the table from Pixar to make it there.
I loved ferngully.
That looks great! Very imaginative!
Not sure imaginative would be the word I’d use to describe damn near shot for shot recreation of an action sequence from AVATAR.
But who knows? Maybe no one saw that movie.
Which action sequence from Avatar are you referring to?
Tangled. Brave. Frozen. Epic.
How long will this trend continue?
“The Leafmen” is far more interesting. But it seems the execs at all the studios read the same article/memo or received the same presentation from a consultant who advised them to give animated movies one word names instead of more “complicated” titles.
Looks like we’re stuck with this trend for a while…and I think it really started when Princess and the Frog disappointed Disney so the “Tangled” renaming trend is what Disney pushed as its strategy for avoiding another disappointment…and as usual everyone else in the industry followed.
Music is totally wrong. I have no idea if it’ll be good or not.
Awful title.
What’s their next movie after this one gonna be called? “Funny”?
Blue Sky just seems to be forever stuck in neutral. Technically the stuff is great but it always feels empty and dull. Even Rio failed to inspire and that had such enormous talent and subject potential from which to draw. Not sure if it’s a disconnect being so far from Hollywood, an apathy on the part of Fox (hey we’ve got to have a feature animation division), or if it’s the Blue Sky culture and leadership, but their films just always seem — well, squandered.
For a movie supposedly about a teenage girl who gets transported to a new world and goes adventuring, that was a lot of a dude running around and doing things.
The dialogue at the end was indeed cringe worthy.
The title thing is interesting. “Brave.” “Epic.” “Wanted.” I’m assuming because they translate well? When people say – “hey – did you ever see “‘Wanted?’” You start to black out trying to remember, the title is so generic. Have you seen “Mildred Pierce;” “The China Syndrome;” or “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?” “LOVED THEM!” I know such generic titles can be weirdly perfect (“The Apartment;” “The Jerk” for instance) but if the product isn’t up to snuff good luck on the retail food chain. It seems to me it can be an instantaneous marketing long range death knell commencing on opening day.
it looks like they stole his limb-surfing moves from disneys tarzan
I guess Ferngully wasn’t the last rainforest.
oak trees are in a rain forest?
Fern Gully was cool because of Robin Williams & Tim Curry.
This um….. isn’t.
That teaser is, like, totally messed up. Yes, the animation looks nifty enough (tho not as lovely as the verdant leafy goodness of Brave) but that earnest song makes me blush. Why, when they’ve done so well with broad comedy, would they go in this direction? Terrible teaser! Oh, man! indeed.