Robots Gets Voices

ROBOTS, 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studio's eagerly awaited follow-up to ICE AGE, will be powered by the celebrity voice- over work of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry and Mel Brooks. The computer-animated movie, under the helm of director Chris Wedge, has been in production for two months, and is set for release March 11, 2005.

The whimsical ROBOTS, scripted by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (CITY SLICKERS), and based on a story by playwright David Lindsay-Abair, actually began as a collaboration between Wedge and ROLIE POLIE OLIE author William Joyce. Set in a unique world of 'bots, it's a the story of a young genius who falls in love with a sexy exec and sets out to prove that robots can improve the planet.

Other celebrity voice work will be turned in by Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, Stanley Tucci, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Coolidge, Paul Giamatti, Dan Hedaya, D.L. Hughley, Jamie Kennedy, Harland Williams, Sofia Vergara and Amanda Bynes.

Fox's global marketing plan is already in place. Partnerships include Mattel, Burger King, Kellogg's, Keebler, Hewlett Packard, HarperCollins and Vivendi Universal Games.

ROBOTS is one of eight CG-animated projects in the works by Fox/Blue Sky, including an ICE AGE sequel scheduled for 2006.