Universal Pictures will release two new DWA animated films in 2021; previously announced ‘Spooky Jack’ removed from schedule.
Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation have just announced two new films coming to theares in 2021: an untitled Spirit Riding Free film, set for a May 14, 2021 release, and The Bad Guys, set for release on September 17, 2021. The previously announced Spooky Jack, from horror-film maestro Jason Blum, has been taken off the release schedule; no other information about the film’s future was released.
The yet to be titled Spirit Riding Free film, billed as an epic adventure about the unbreakable bond between a girl and a wild stallion, is the next movie in DreamWorks Animation’s popular motion-picture and animated television series franchise. The studio’s current original Netflix series, Spirit Riding Free, which launched on the streaming giant in May 2017, is itself based on the 2002 Oscar-nominated DreamWorks Animation feature, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. All 52 episodes of the series are available for streaming, with more episodes set for Fall 2020.
In the series, when headstrong Lucky Prescott is forced to move from her big city home to a small frontier town, she becomes a complete fish-out-of-water. But her life is changed forever when she makes new friends and forms an inseparable bond with a wild mustang named Spirit. When Spirit’s herd is captured by rustlers, the girls and their horses must undertake the adventure of a lifetime to save them.
Elaine Bogan (director, Tales of Arcadia: Trollhunters and 3Below, Dragons: Race to the Edge) is on board to direct the new film, which is being produced by Karen Foster (co-producer, How To Train Your Dragon). Ennio Torresan (head of story, Abominable and The Boss Baby) serves as co-director.
InThe Bad Guys, after a lifetime of pulling legendary heists, five notorious bad guys—Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark and Ms. Tarantula—attempt their most challenging job yet…going good. Nobody has ever failed so hard at trying to be as good as The Bad Guys.
The film is based on the bestselling Scholastic book series by Aaron Blabey, which has more than 8.2 million copies in print worldwide. The Bad Guys is directed by Pierre Perifel (director, DWA award-winning short Bilby; animator, the Kung Fu Panda films), who makes his feature-directing debut, from a script by Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder, Get Hard) and Hilary Winston (NBC’s Community and ABC’s Happy Endings). The film is produced by Damon Ross (co-producer, Nacho Libre) and Rebecca Huntley (co-producer Abominable, associate producer, The Boss Baby). The executive producers are Blabey, Cohen, Patrick Hughes and Jeff Berg.
Source: DreamWorks Animation
