The Palm Court of the Plaza Hotel, the storybook home of Eloise, was the site of the announcement introducing ELOISE IN AFRICA, an animated feature that will be released to coincide with ELOISE IN PARIS, a live-action feature written and directed by Charles Shyer.
One of the true classics of children's literature, ELOISE was written by Kay Thompson and featured the iconic illustrations of Hilary Knight. The first book of the series was published in 1955 and four more have followed as children's bestsellers in the United States. In 2003, HandMade produced two ELOISE TV movies starring Julie Andrews that aired on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney. ELOISE AT THE PLAZA and ELOISE AT CHRISTMASTIME have sold over a million units in DVD sales.
In the brand-new ELOISE IN AFRICA, 6-year-old heroine Eloise is joined by Nanny, Skipperdee (her turtle) and Weenie (her dog) as she travels from the Plaza Hotel to Africa where she helps uncover an international animal smuggling ring. The direct-to-DVD film will be directed by Animation Collective's Sergei Aniskov. Patrick Meehan and David Ravden will exec produce the film along with Larry Schwarz and Doug MacLennan. Production on ELOISE IN AFRICA began in October and will be done entirely at Animation Collective's New York studios blocks from the Plaza Hotel. This will be the first in a yearly series of animated films taking Eloise on adventures around the world.
A release date has not yet been set.
