The famed bear and pals from A. A. Milne’s classic book are headed to the big screen, with DreamWorks alum Mike de Seve directing and co-writing with fellow alum John Reynolds.
Baboon Animation (Angry Birds, Gigantosaurus) has teamed up with IQI, a content incubator lab and subsidiary of Winvest Group, to produce an animated feature film prequel to A. A. Milne’s classic “Winnie-the-Pooh” book. DreamWorks alum Mike de Seve (Madagascar, Monsters vs. Aliens) will direct, and co-write with fellow DreamWorks alum John Reynolds (The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show). Another DreamWorks alum, Charlene Kelly (Next Gen), now CIO at Winvest, and Khiow Hui Lim, IQI founder and CSO of Winvest, will executive produce.
“A.A. Milne’s bear has aged gracefully in the last hundred years,” said Kelly. “But what happened, back-when, that made him and his pals who they are in the book? A heck of a big adventure, that’s what – one that needs a big screen. Audiences will be transported to somewhere they never expected.”
“I think this unsinkable young cub is totally relatable for today’s kids, with his hell-bent craving for honey and his ludicrous schemes to get it,” adds de Seve, who directed on the original Beavis and Butt-Head series and feature and story-consulted on Shrek 2. He now helms Baboon. “The whole gang is hilarious, and are even more hilarious as kids, we’re finding out.”
Noting the success of the reboots of “Peter Rabbit” and “Paddington,” the Baboon team is applying its knowledge of entertainment for today's kids to create characters they hope will resonate with all generations. The studio’s team members collectively have won 31 Emmys, with expertise in showrunning, writing, development and voice acting.
Baboon and IQI have set a 2024 release date for the origin story of the famed bear and pals from the Hundred Acre Woods, which will be followed by a planned series. No series details were announced.
Asked what will the young bear and his friends look like, Kelly laughed, “You’ll see. Brace yourself for a surprise.”
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
