Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio In Talks To Join ‘X … 
Cannes: Latest Theft Affects China Film Group VP 
UPDATE: Yahoo Board OKs $1.1B Deal To Acquire Tumblr … 
‘Epic’ Toon Begins $14.5M Overseas Rollout 
Cannes: Sony Classics Wins Stateside Rights To Asghar … 
‘Fast & Furious 6′ Breaks Records In … 
Specialty Box Office: ‘Frances Ha’ Triumphs As … 
‘Saturday Night Live’ Season Finale Posts … 
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ $164.5M Global: Lower … 
Cannes: Backup Media, Memento Bring Heat To Fest Helmer Jim … 
Cannes: Sundance Selects Acquires Dardenne Brothers’ … 
Cannes: Wrekin Hill Acquires U.S. On Gabriele … 
Bill Hader’s ‘SNL’ Stefon Farewell: Video 
Cannes: The Weinstein Co. Books ‘Suite … 
BBC Confirms ‘Doctor Who’ Season 8 
Finally, Cannes Dealing! Radius-TWC Nabs Director’s … 
Hammond On Cannes: Wet Fest’s Official Competition … 
‘Vampire Academy’ Adds ‘Modern … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Shark Tank’ Finale Up, … 
Cannes: Worldview Options Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn … 
UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
The Jim Henson Company has acquired rights to the Frog And Toad children’s books and is developing an animated feature. Written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel in the 1970s, each of the four books include five short stories chronicling the exploits of a frog and his friend, a toad. Lisa Henson will produce for the Jim Henson Company, and Adam and Adrianne Lobel will executive produce. Craig Bartlett (Dinosaur Train, Hey Arnold!) will write the screenplay and Cory Edwards (Hoodwinked) is attached to direct. The deal is tied to a licensing and merchandising program signed with HarperCollins Children’s Books. The company is presenting Frog And Toad at the upcoming Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.
Jim Henson Company To Develop ‘Frog And Toad’ Animated Feature Film
-
Marketplace
News/Opinion Poll
Loading ...Box Office Poll
Loading ...
I hope they don’t plan to use the HDPS (Henson Digital Puppetry performance System) to animate the film. The technology is lifeless and barely watchable (Francis, Sid the Science Kid). It’s only slightly better than really bad Robert Zemekis motion capture films and the vocal performances (provided by the puppeteers) are uniformly bad.
Do what Chris Meledandri at Illumination is doing: develop the script, do your pre-pro and voice records here then get a top notch animation studio in Europe or Canada to do the animation via key framing.
Henson has a great and under-serviced brand, Lisa can sure make films, but if the animation production looks bad and is not up to or competitive with the high standards that Pixar, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, Sony, Aardman and Illumination have established, the film will be a disaster.
Oh yeah, and don’t let Brian any where near it.