Animation icon Will Vinton tapped to direct ‘The Quest,’ ‘Jack Hightower,’ ‘Moby & Dick’ and ‘Nicholas.’
LOS ANGELES – Gnosis Moving Pictures and Vinton Entertainment, Inc. announced that the two companies have signed a co-production deal on a slate of CG animated feature films, to be directed by Oscar winner, Will Vinton.
“Our partnership with animation icon Will Vinton is poised to produce engaging and thought-provoking animated content for children and families from one of the best in the business,” said Darius Kamali, CEO of Gnosis Moving Pictures. “We are looking forward to Will's vision giving these animated stories life.”
The slate includes The Quest, a Monty Python-esque comedy set in outer space. The project, which has previously been announced, is written by Vinton, Andrew Wiese, and Peter Crabbe and features the voice of John Cleese. Jack Hightower, based on the Dark Horse graphic novel, is a comedic action adventure about a macho secret agent who’s shrunk to the size of a hotdog. Moby & Dick, inspired by the famous Melville novel, is a heartfelt tale about the bond between fathers and sons. Nicholas, a mix of 3D stop-animation and CGI, is an epic action–adventure story based on L. Frank Baum's famous novel, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.
"I've dedicated my life's work to bringing to life entertaining and culturally-relevant characters, personalities and content through the power of animated story telling," said Will Vinton. "After pursuing a passion project in theatre, I'm eager to venture back into animation through this incredible new feature film slate in partnership with Gnosis. Together, we've got big things in the works."
Founded in 2013 by CEO Darius Kamali, Gnosis Moving Pictures is a privately financed media and technology company active in multiple areas of entertainment, including animated and live-action feature film production, mobile and social media game development, and the financing of virtual reality technology applications. Kamali will produce the slate alongside SVP Kasey Adler, who oversees the company’s strategic partnerships and investments in media and technology-related companies and assets. Kamali’s career bridges human rights advocacy with film/media and includes areas as diverse as open-source intelligence analysis and institutional development. Prior to founding Gnosis, Kamali was associate producer on the animated feature IGOR starring John Cusack in 2008, which was released domestically by MGM and internationally by TWC, and is co-executive producer on the The Hero of Color City with Magnolia Pictures, set for an October 2014 release.
A pioneer in the animation business, Will Vinton created, coined, and trademarked the word Claymation, and has created some of the most innovative dimensional animation in history, including iconic characters like The California Raisins, the computer generated M&Ms Red and Yellow, Domino’s Pizza’s the Noid and Thurgood Stubbs of The PJs. He has received virtually every major international award given to a filmmaker, including an Oscar, 5 Academy Award nominations, and 8 primetime Emmy nominations. Headquartered in Portland Oregon, Vinton and business partner John Ripper started Vinton Entertainment as a boutique animated movie and licensing studio that has branded itself as a “new breed” of studio, fashioning a powerful business model to develop, produce, market, and distribute animated films, and license intellectual properties to global markets. The Company has a robust development pipeline of scripted animated feature film projects. Comical, adventurous and/or sentimental, the properties have all been created to entertain family audiences with great stories, fantastic characters and gorgeous 3D animation.
Source:Gnosis
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
