Starz Animation Toronto, the leading CG animation studio behind such notable theatrical releases as Focus Features’ 9 and Touchstone Pictures’/Rocket Pictures’ upcoming Gnomeo & Juliet, has partnered with producer Avi Arad and producer Steven Paul’s Crystal Sky Pictures to bring life to the VFX robot hero of the 2011 theatrical family adventure.
Press Release from Starz Animation Toronto
Toronto, Ont. – November 1, 2010 – Starz Animation Toronto, the leading CG animation studio behind such notable theatrical releases as Focus Features’ 9 and Touchstone Pictures’/Rocket Pictures’ upcoming Gnomeo & Juliet, has partnered with producer Avi Arad and producer Steven Paul’s Crystal Sky Pictures to bring life to the VFX robot hero of the 2011 theatrical family adventure.
An otherwise live-action feature, with Bobby Coleman (The Last Song, “Surface”), Penelope Ann Miller (Carlito’s Way, “Men of a Certain Age”) and David Eigenberg (“Sex and the City”) in lead roles, Robosapien: Rebooted will feature high-end animation of the title character, which is inspired by the popular and multi-talented mini-robot created by the innovative toy company WowWee.
Robosapien: Rebooted tells the story of a robot boy and a human boy (Coleman), who team up to thwart the evil ambitions of the organization that funded the robot’s creator, and to free the boy’s kidnapped parents.
“How fortunate to find a winning project like this, with partners the caliber of Avi and Steven,” Starz Animation Toronto Head of Studio David Steinberg said. “This is the perfect fit for our studio, leveraging both the VFX strengths that we have built over the past year and the great character performance animation we are known for.”
“Robosapien: Rebooted is a special undertaking for us, and we needed to entrust the performance animation of our title character to a studio with the creativity and experience to do it justice, and the talented artists at the Toronto studio are clearly the ones to handle this,” Paul said. “We’re confident the high-end animation that we’re adding to this already exceptional project will make this one of the most sought-after projects at the upcoming American Film Market.”
Starz Animation Toronto’s deal to animate the Robosapien character was negotiated by Jeffrey Young, VP of Finance and Business Development for the studio, and by Paul and Executive Producer Scott Karol on behalf of Crystal Sky. In addition to creating the character, WowWee will handle Licensing and Merchandising opportunities for Robosapien: Rebooted.
About Starz Animation TorontoStarz Animation Toronto, a unit of Starz Media, LLC, is one of Canada’s leading high-quality digital animation studios, providing world-class computer-animated content for feature films, DVDs, television series, commercials, visual effects and shorts for Studios and independent producers, as well as proprietary productions. Starz Media, LLC, is a programming, production and distribution company operating worldwide. It includes the Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment brands. Its units create animated and live-action programming – including theatrical films – and programming created under contract for other media companies. It distributes that programming, and programming acquired from outside producers, through home video retailers, theaters, broadcasters, ad supported and premium television channels, and Internet and wireless video distributors in the US and internationally. Starz Media (www.starzmedia.com) is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group (NASDAQ: LSTZA).
About Crystal Sky PicturesCrystal Sky, LLC was founded in 1977 by producer/director real estate entrepreneur Steven Paul. Based in Los Angeles, Crystal Sky is one of the leading independent companies that develops, finances, produces and sells branded theatrical motion pictures for the worldwide marketplace. Credits include Ghost Rider, Doomsday Big Stan, as well as the Bratz and Baby Geniuses franchise. Upcoming productions being produced by Steven Paul include Ghost Rider 2 for Sony Pictures.
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