The three-time Oscar nominee is adapting Caldecott Honor winner Peter Brown’s 2016 NY Times bestseller, with Jeff Hermann producing and Dean DeBlois, with whom he wrote and directed both ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ executive producing.
Chris Sanders, the three-time Oscar nominee who wrote and directed How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, and Lilo & Stitch, has returned to DreamWorks Animation to write and direct The Wild Robot, based on Peter Brown's best-selling Y/A novel of the same name.
Jeff Hermann, who most recently produced The Boss Baby: Family Business, co-produced Kung Fu Panda 3, and produced several DreamWorks Animation’s recent award-winning short films, will serve as producer. Dean DeBlois, who along with Sanders wrote and directed both How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch, will serve as executive producer. Raymond Zibach (Kung Fu Panda 1, 2, and 3) will serve as production designer; Heidi Jo Gilbert (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Croods: A New Age) will serve as head of story; and Mary Blee (The Boss Baby: Family Business, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World) will serve as editor.
The Wild Robot tells the story of Rozzum 7134 ("Roz" for short), a robot designed for a futuristic urban world, who finds herself washed ashore on a deserted island. A tale of survival and discovery begins when she becomes the unexpected protector to an orphaned gosling, which she names Brightbill. Together they struggle to survive the harsh environment, but only succeed with the help of a close-knit group of misfit animals, who become first friends, then family. Ultimately Roz and company save the island from a robotic invasion by Roz's manufacturer, looking to bring her back to civilization by any means necessary. In the process she becomes something much more than she was programmed to be, a “wild robot.”
According to the studio, beneath the action and comedy, The Wild Robot tells an emotional story about how we all have the power to “exceed our programming,” to become more than we were destined to be. “Roz not only finds a way to survive in this dangerous world, but also brings new meaning to her ‘life’ by taking on the responsibility of parenthood. The movie celebrates what it means to be wild and alive, and how cooperation is the key to survival in a harsh world.”
Peter Brown is the author and illustrator of many bestselling children's books, including “Children Make Terrible Pets” and “The Curious Garden.” He is the recipient of a Caldecott Honor for “Creepy Carrots!,” two E.B. White Read Aloud Awards, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book award, and a Children's Choice Award for Illustrator of the Year. This week, he launched “The Wild Robot Protects,” the third book in “The Wild Robot” series.
Source: DreamWorks Animation
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
