Jason Ritter and Kristen Schaal voice the lead roles and are joined by the a top-notch guest cast that includes Linda Cardellini, Lance Bass, Jennifer Coolidge, Coolio, Will Forte, Larry King and Alfred Molina. Make sure you pick up the next issue of Animag for a behind-the-scenes story about the making of this new show.

Gravity Falls

Here is a brief teaser for the show:

Directed by Peter Berg, the costly Battleship has already grossed $226.8 million overseas. However, the Hasbro pic needed a strong U.S. performance to offset its $209 million production costs, which exclude marketing dollars. Meanwhile Sony/Aardman’s stop-motion family feature, The Pirates! Band of Misfits sat tight at the No. 10 spot with an estimated $1.4 million at the U.S. box office, bringing its domestic take to a respectable $25.3 million.

Battleship

Next week (May 25), audiences in select cities will able to check out Disney/UTV’s Indian animated feature Arjun: The Warrior Prince in theaters. The handsomely animated 2D feature centers on a mythological Indian hero and follows the evolution of the hero from a young boy to a warrior. The pic is directed by Arnab Chaudhuri and produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur, based on a script by Rajesh Devraj.

In light of this news, Animag caught up with exec producers Dan Goodman and William H. Masterson III (founders of Believe Entertainment Group)—who also brought in Andrew Egiziano (co-founder, Dru Dog Productions) and series director Ido Gondelman to comprise the LeBrons hive-mind which provided the answers to our burning questions.

Animation Magazine: Can you tell us when and how you got involved with the project? 

Believe Entertainment: We met LeBron and his business manager, Maverick Carter, through Nike executives. They told us about the vision LeBron had for this project and we instantly knew it was a big idea that would translate really well to the web and to LeBron’s audience, and we wanted to be a part of it. Our role is acting as the studio; we helped LeBron develop this into a show based on his vision. We financed and developed The LeBrons, and we were responsible for all sales, distribution and home entertainment, which we did in partnership with LeBron and his company Spring Hill Productions. We were really fortunate to have Dru Dog Productions as our lead partner who managed and oversaw the entire production and collaborated with truly talented design and animation teams at House of Cool and eMation.

The LeBrons

What appealed to you about the show?

BE: Obviously no one would pass on an opportunity to work with LeBron. But add to that an opportunity to develop a highly creative show and to set it up in digital channels in a totally breakthrough way—it was an amazing experience. We also wanted to provide him a platform to reach youth and young adults online in a really positive way. The show was all about inspiring youth and giving back. We wanted to continue LeBron’s great work with young people and help make an impact.

What kind of budget did you work with?

BE: Believe Entertainment Group financed The LeBrons, but as policy we don’t discuss budgets publicly. What we can say is that this is just as involved and elaborate of an animated production as any TV show. We just did ours in short-form format.

How long did it take to make one episode?

BE: The entire series was produced all at once in a single pipeline. Total production time was approximately nine months, start to finish. Dru Dog Productions ran the entire pipeline and created a really innovative approach to developing this effort, pulling from resources all over the world from LA, NY, Toronto, Korea and more. Our team went through the full process of creating storyboards, drawing characters and thousands of frames for each five- to seven-minute episode. We also did voiceovers for the four main characters—Kid, Wise, Business and Athlete—and a dozen supporting cast and characters; this included LeBron as the voice of Business, Niecy Nash as Gloria, and Drake made an appearance as himself.

The LeBrons

What is LeBron James’ involvement with the project? How hands-on is he?

BE: This was LeBron’s vision so it’s no surprise he is very involved at every stage—during the production he’s reviewing scripts, giving direction on character design, storyboards, and the like. But he also stars in the show. He’s done live-action openings where we talk about the positive messages of each episode, and he’s even voicing one of the characters named Business.

Where is the animation produced?

BE: The creative team for The LeBrons includes top talent from throughout the animation business. Our partner Dru Dog Productions utilized the support and resources of Digital eMation, in Seoul, South Korea, precision edition was provided by Andy Tauke (Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy) and post-production was done by Hacienda Post (SpongeBob Squarepants, Samurai Jack) in Los Angeles.

How did you get the word out and why do you think the show has been such a hit on the web?

BE: The LeBrons was distributed through YouTube and we heavily promoted and distributed through LeBron’s Facebook and Twitter as well as a dedicated section of LeBronJames.com; we also syndicated the series across targeted sites on the web through Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG). LeBron has nearly 15 million fans on Facebook and Twitter alone, and we believe the future of digital entertainment is about all of these things together forming a really powerful distribution vehicle. We capitalized on where LeBron’s audience already is, and we addressed the audience on their terms and how they want to watch. As a result, LeBron’s fans not only loved the show, but shared it with their friends, tweeted about it, posted comments about it and started conversations with other viewers online about the life lessons it teaches. Of course, to have a hit digital series you have to start with great talent and great content. There is no substitute for a tremendous talent and creative partner, especially one who is a business-savvy creative partner like LeBron.

LeBron James

How is the animation done?

BE: The goal with The LeBrons was to create this unique and exciting visual world. Our partner Dru Dog Productions brought in director Ido Gondelman, Ricardo Curtis and his company, House of Cool, Inc., who developed the original ideas into the rich, character-driven stories of The LeBrons. Voice actor and coach Michael Bell provided vocal direction, creating a natural storytelling ambience.

What were some of your visual/animation inspirations for the show?

BE: The LeBrons was inspired by four characters that represent four different sides of LeBron James’ personality—Kid, Wise, Business and Athlete—that originally came from a series of Nike television commercials starring LeBron. LeBron decided to create the new series loosely based on these characters, told through the point of view of Kid, that would take place in Akron, Ohio, LeBron’s hometown. The neighborhood is a character itself, as it depicts LeBron’s real life childhood stomping grounds and serves as the nurturing but sometimes difficult backdrop of youth trying to find their way in the world. The creative teams of Believe Entertainment Group, Dru Dog Productions and House of Cool spent a day with LeBron in Akron visiting key locations from his years growing up. Places such as the outdoor basketball court, the high school gym, the community center pool and the neighborhoods were adapted in detail by Ricardo Curtis and Ido Gondelman; the two directors and their artistic teams captured the nuances that made the backgrounds unique to The LeBrons.

What was the toughest challenge for you?

BE: We’re working with a short-form series (five to seven minutes) so the story had to be told succinctly but with enough depth to build affinity to these characters and build at least some basic story arcs. Plus we had to do it all while maintaining the highest production standards and trying to push further on the stylistic approach of the show itself. We’re excited to be working on a second season of this truly special show.

The LeBrons

Do you have any plans to take the show to other platforms?

BE: Our business and all of our projects have a digital focus because we see how digital is taking over mainstream. Consumers are watching entertainment through digitally-enabled channels, and success to us is having a hit series on the web, where the fans are. We are open to possible TV distribution for The LeBrons in the future and looking at multiple new venues to continue to distribute the show.

What are the plans for Season Two?

BE: We are currently in development for a second season of The LeBrons, and Microsoft’s MSN and Xbox properties will be the primary digital distribution partners. Season two will be co-executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Dan Goodman and Bill Masterson. Andrew Egiziano and Dru Dog Productions will continue to lead the entire production and season two is slated to launch in the second half of 2012. We made the announcement in April at Microsoft’s Digital Content NewFront in New York City.

How did this show compare to the other projects you’ve worked on in the past?

BE: I would say that in addition to The LeBrons’ high entertainment quality, it’s unique in its purpose of promoting positive values to youth—things like family, teamwork, friendship, giving back to the community, and staying in school. The LeBrons is also Believe Entertainment Group’s first animated series, although before we started Believe Entertainment Group, we worked on another fantastic animated show, Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.

Believe Entertainment Group’s other projects include a recently launched behind-the-scenes, documentary-style show with legendary DJ/Producer Tiësto, called In the Booth (youtube.com/tiesto), and later this year we will launch a new lifestyle and entertainment news series with Jennifer Lopez and Nuyorican Productions, called Tiger Beat Entertainment. What we strive to do with every project is to find a way to engage our talent partner’s active fan base; it’s one of the things we look for in any partner or project that we greenlight. With LeBron, Tiësto, Jennifer and any of our talent partners, we can connect with two very active social media fan bases on Twitter and Facebook in order to help deliver great content to fans and viewers.

The film will be directed by Kim Burdon (Stressed Eric) based on a script by Keiron Self and Giles New (Shaun the Sheep). The project will be produced by Gina Cartner and Robert Chandler—a co-pro between Spout Pictures Film and Jerry Hibbert’s D’Arblay Films. Hibbert, Bob Benton and Fry will also act as exec producers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film’s animation will be divided between D’Arblay films in the U.K and Arc Productions studio in Toronto. Backed by the BFI Film Fund, the movie is slated for a Christmas of 2014 release date.

Hugh Laurie (left) and Stephen Fry (right)

The prequel, which is called Swing, Popa, Swing focuses on the early days of the triplets and their relationship with their 100-year-old father, who wants the girls to focus on studying medicine instead of music. There are also science fiction elements in the movie, which includes aliens and CIA and KGB agents who are fighting to capture their spacecraft. Brunner said that his Paris-based studio Les Armateurs will be working on the movie and they are considering developing the project as a stereoscopic 3D CG-animated movie. The producer said the film will probably commence production in 2013.

Brunner’s Cannes and Annecy 2012 project, Ernest and Celestine is directed by Benjamin Renner (the short A Mouse’s Tale) and Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar (A Town Called Panic). The 2D animated family film is based on a charming collection of books by the Gabrielle Vincent. It centers on the unlikely friendship between a musically gifted bear and a little mouse who dreams of being an artist. It will be released in France in December of 2012. You can read about the making of the movie in the upcoming June issue of Animation Magazine.

Triplets of Belleville

Here is the trailer for the original Triplets of Belleville:

And here is a taste of Ernest and Celestine:

“With a spirited heroine and enchanting setting in the ancient Scottish Highlands, Brave represents some exciting firsts for Pixar,” said Ricky Strauss, Disney’s president of marketing. “We are proud that the world premiere of Brave will serve as the inaugural premiere at the new Dolby Theatre as part of the LA Film Festival, a fitting way to launch Merida’s extraordinary adventure.”

The 18th Los Angeles Film Festival will make this special presentation available to Festival attendees with Platinum All-Access or Gold Passes. An additional Gala screening of the film will be held the next day at Regal Cinemas at L.A. LIVE for pass and ticket holders. “We are thrilled to present the world premiere of Brave, a beautiful adventure story, to our LA Film Fest audience,” said Festival Director Stephanie Allain. “As Disney/Pixar’s first film with a female protagonist, it fits perfectly with our celebration of Women in Animation programming we’ll be holding during the Festival.”

Here is the movie’s official synopsis: Set in the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland, Disney/Pixar’s “Brave” follows the heroic journey of Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald), a skilled archer and headstrong daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to change her fate, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the unruly and uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane), unleashing chaos in the kingdom. When she turns to an eccentric Witch (voice of Julie Walters), she is granted an ill-fated wish and the ensuing peril forces Merida to harness all of her resources—including her mischievous triplet brothers—to undo a beastly curse and discover the meaning of true bravery. Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, and produced by Katherine Sarafian, Brave is a grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and signature Pixar humor. You can go behind the scenes of the movie in the next issue of Animation Magazine.

Here is the film’s latest trailer:

http://disney.go.com/brave//?cmp=wdsmp_brv_4d_google_rac_Extl

Brave

Green Lantern: The Animated Series – Rise of the Red Lanterns (Season 1, Part 1) follows Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps on a treacherous journey through deep space. As Earth’s Green Lantern, Hal must face down an invasion from the villainous Red Lantern Corps, who will stop at nothing to destroy and silence the Green Lantern Corps forever.

“Green Lantern: The Animated Series has really taken us into a realm we hadn’t explored before:  our first completely CG-animated series,” says Sam Register, exec VP of creative affairs at Warner Bros. Animation. “Like Teen Titans and Batman: The Animated Series, it’s an incredible, groundbreaking action series, combining the legendary instincts of Emmy-winning executive producer Bruce Timm and the incredible artistry of WB’s CG animators. It’s a beautifully rendered, epic space adventure with a scale that’s simply breathtaking.”

Green Lantern: The Animated Series - Rise of the Red Lanterns DVD

Executive produced by Sam Register (Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Ben 10), and Bruce Timm, the show is produced by Giancarlo Volpe (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Jim Krieg (Ben 10: Alien Swarm). Green Lantern features the voice talents of Josh Keaton as Hal Jordan, Jason Spisak as Razer, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kilowog and Grey DeLisle as Aya.

Kelly was actually a pioneer in the art of the seamless melding of live action and animation, first in the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh, in which he had a fantasy-sequence dance number with Jerry Mouse. Back in 1998 I spoke with veteran animator and director Ray Patterson, who was in MGM’s “Tom and Jerry” unit, headed by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, and who worked on the sequence. “He [Kelly] said it was one of the highlights of that picture,” Ray remembered, adding:

“They took a rotoscope. They had him over here. I remember when he was coming forward [in the dance], he too big steps. Jerry had little feet, and I thought, ‘How the hell is this going to work?’ Jerry kind of slid and did the same movement. Gene was going this far, and Jerry was only going this far, but it came out.”

(from left) Joe Barbera, Gene Kelly and William Hanna

Kelly returned to Hanna-Barbera for the more elaborate “Sinbad the Sailor” sequence of 1956’s Invitation to the Dance, and then again, in the mid-1960s, as Joe Barbera told me in 1999:

“Gene Kelly came over to the studio, smiling, and he said, ‘You remember that dance number we did with Jerry Mouse in Anchors Aweigh?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ And that night I got the idea to do a Jack and the Beanstalk. I called him up and said I had a helluva idea. I said, ‘You try not to dance, but you keep the giant’s attention and you dance across the street, and grab the harp and beat it. Just on that alone he said, ‘Yeah!’ So we made a deal, and we let him do the live action. He had to go away for a year and a half for us to do the animation.”

Gene Kelly and Jerry Mouse in Anchors Aweigh

That project earned Kelly an Emmy Award. His last work in film was in animation: he served as choreographer for the 1997 feature Cats Don’t Dance. How does someone choreograph an animated feature? In 1994 put that question to the film’s producer, David Kirschner, who told me:

“Our director, Mark Dindal, would explain the emotions of the scene and what was happening, and Gene would go home and think about it, and come back with his thoughts. The storyboard artist would work with what his ideas and concepts were, especially for a huge number at the end, which is a take-off on Busby Berkeley, and an underwater, Esther Williams-like scene, with a hippopotamus and all these penguins.”

Gene Kelly and the crew of Cats Don't Dance

So the next time you watch Gene Kelly in action, remember that it’s one thing to teach Debbie Reynolds to dance, but another thing entirely for Tillie the Hippopotamus.

The third outing for the Bronx zoo animals finds them stuck in Europe and persuaded by a vicious French animal control official (voiced by Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand. Along the way, they find the perfect cover, a traveling circus, where they meet a new set of European animals, including Stefano the Sea Lion (Martin Short), Gia the Jaguar (Chastain) and Vitaly the Lion (Bryan Cranston). You can read all about the making of the movie in the June issue of Animation Magazine.

(from left) David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

(from left) David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Chris Rock of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

(from left) David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock and Ben Stiller of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

Here is the latest trailer for the movie

The press release doesn’t reveal much info about the plot, but it does say that the new film will take place years after the first film concluded. It also mentions that Fancher and Scott initially intended Blade Runner to be the first in a series of films incorporating the themes and characters found in Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

Scott has confirmed that the original star Harrison Ford won’t be returning for the sequel. The director is next set to direct Cormac McCarthy’s drama The Counselor, which begins production in June. Scott has also noted that he would be interested in doing a Prometheus sequel if the film performs well at the box office this summer.

Blade Runner