Sunday, May 08, 2016

Harvey's and Bob's Latest Foray Into Cartoonland

A trade paper tells us:

Meryl Streep, Mel Brooks, Nicole Kidman and Zendaya are on board to voice characters in the animated film “The Guardian Brothers.”

The Weinstein Company has bought worldwide rights, except for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, and will launch sales at the Cannes Film Festival.

The movie was released previously in China by Alibaba Pictures under the title “The Little Door Gods.” Streep will play the film’s storyteller.

Gary Wang directed “The Little Door,” produced by Zhou Yu and Light Chaser Animation Studios. TWC noted that it recently bought international distribution rights for “The Nut Job 2,” which it will also be selling at Cannes.

“I’ve loved working with our Beijing partners Light Chaser Animation,” said TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein. “Everyone who knows me, knows I’m determined to build our animation division for film and television. This is going to be a huge area for our company and ‘The Guardian Brothers’ is just the beginning of our plan to bring the caliber of film associated with TWC to animation.” ...


Eleven years back, the Weinstein Company had a positive experience with Hoodwinked, it's first animated feature release. HW was made inexpensively, received mixed reviews but made a fortune relative to its cost.

The Weinsteins have had their hands in other animated projects since, but none have come close to their first release (which they picked up at Cannes near the end of its production). As with Hoodwinked, The Little Door is a movie made by others that TWC intends to buff to a glistening sheen with high-powered vocal talent.

It's anybody's guess whether Harvey and Bob Weinstein can reignite the magic audiences discovered in their 2005 animated offering. But we will soon find out.

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