Hot off the announcement that MADAGASCAR 2 will hit theaters in 2008, DreamWorks Animation has announced that KUNG FU PANDA will also be released that year, reports VARIETY. The studios still hopes to release two animated films per year at least until 2009. PANDA will star Jack Black as the voice of a lazy panda prophesied to save the Valley of Peace. John Stevenson and Mark Osborne are set to direct with Melissa Cobb producing from a script by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab.
For 2009 and beyond, DreamWorks Animation has four potential projects lined up, which include HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, REX HAVOC, IT CAME FROM EARTH! and ROUTE 66.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON is based on Cressida Cowells children's book, which follows the son of a Viking chief who must catch a dragon as a rite of passage. Lorna Cook (SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON) and David Soren will direct with Will Davies adapting the screenplay.
Based on the classic horror comicbook, REX HAVOC follows a monster hunter who enlisted a band of creatures Ick!, Dr. Cockroach, the 50,000 Pound Woman and Insectosaurus to help battle aliens that are disrupting cable TV service. Conrad Vernon (SHREK 2) and Rob Letterman (SHARK TALE) are helming from a script by Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky.
IT CAME FROM EARTH! is a spoof on alien invasion flicks, covering the reaction of Martians when Earthlings show up. Josh Lobis and Darin Moiselle penned the screenplay. DreamWorks hasnt announced who will direct.
ROUTE 66 is the strange tale of Mulligan, a giant golf ball statue on the side of legendary Route 66, who sets off to find his beloved Betty, a giant blueberry fruit stand ad, when she is carted off one day. SHREK 2s director Vernon wrote the script with Harlan Williams from a pitch by Vernon, Williams and Rej Bourdages, the head of DreamWorks' story department.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
