InFurNation Rotating Header Image

Animation

The Palace Pooch

We got this right from Animation World Network: “Belgium-based studio nWave Pictures has teamed up with French sales company Charades to help sell its upcoming 3D animated feature The Queen’s Corgi… With a budget of more than $20 million, The Queen’s Corgi is being directed by nWave chief Ben Stassen with Vincent Kesteloot. The screenplay is by Rob Sprackling and Johnny Smith. The movie follows the adventure of Rex, the British monarch’s most beloved dog, who loses track of his mistress and stumbles across a fight club with dogs of all kinds confronting each other.” With films like House of Magic, Wild Life, and Son of Bigfoot already in their repertoire, it looks like nWave are trying to be a very furry production company. This new film is due in 2019.

image c. 2017 nWave Pictures

A Bear in a Hat on Your TV

We got this from Animation World Network: Although the second Paddington live action/CGI film won’t hit theaters until early next year, Studio Canal have announced at MIP Junior that they already have a new Paddington animated series in development for television. (Of course there was already an animated series back in the 1970’s. It was scripted by Paddington’s creator himself, Michael Bond, and animated with stop motion and paper cut-outs.) Studio Canal hopes to have the little bear’s new series available in late 2018 or early 2019.

image c. 2017 Studio Canal

Save

Fun with Cats and Dogs

Over at DC Comics, the “let’s fool around with Hanna-Barbera” fun continues… with the premier of The Ruff & Reddy Show comic. “In the Golden Age of television, Ruff and Reddy were on top of the entertainment world…until the world turned, and they were forgotten. Now, Ruff is a washed-up television actor. Reddy is a clerk in an upscale grocery store. Can a hungry young agent convince the two one-time partners to make a comeback—and convince the world that it wants to see the famously infamous dog-and-cat comedy team back in the spotlight?” Written by none other than the famous Howard Chaykin, with art by Mac Rey. Look for it by the end of October.

image c. 2017 DC Comics

How to Battle With Your Dragon

[Back in town again, your ed-otter is happy to get caught up with new furry stuff!] Looking ahead to the delayed-but-still-coming film How to Train Your Dragon 3, Dreamworks Animation have a new full-color graphic novel coming early next year from Dark Horse. “This second standalone graphic novel based on the film series is a new adventure that takes place shortly after the events in How to Train Your Dragon 2, during the period in which Hiccup is desperately trying to fill his father’s role as the chief of Berk. Created with the help of the film’s writer, director, and producer, Dean DeBlois; it bridges the gap between the second and third films. Hiccup, Toothless, and the rest of the dragon riders encounter two deadly yet mysteriously linked threats: One is an island consumed by Dragonvine, an uncontrollable force of nature that’s poisonous to humans and deadly to dragons. The other is an all-new, all-terrifying dragon species – the web-spitting Silkspanners!” As they noted in the press release, How to Train Your Dragon: Dragonvine is written by Dean Deblois and Richard Hamilton, with illustrations by Francisco de la Fuente and Doug Wheatley.

image c. 2017 Dark Horse

They’re Back to Move It Move It

Our zoo friends from New York… er, Africa… er, Monte Carlo… WHATEVER are back in a new full-color comic collection. Madagascar: Escape Plans brings together issues #1 through #4 of the comic book series from Joe Books in one trade paperback. “Join Marty, Alex, Melman and the whole Madagascar crew on hilarious adventures… Featuring a buddy-cop adventure starring Alex and his arch nemesis Nana, a zany escape plan from Madagascar, a struggle between King Julien and the usurper who’s stolen his throne, and more!” Written by Patrick Storck and illustrated by Rik Hoskin, it’s coming on October 10th.

image c. 2017 Joe Books

Woo-Hoo!

Looks as if IDW gets the honor of publishing the tie-in comic for Disney’s new DuckTales animated series. After a preview “issue #0” this last summer, the first issue of Disney DuckTales hit the shelves recently. “In ‘The Great Experiment of the Washing Machine, Donald and the Nephews visit a top-secret lab, chock-full of crazy inventions to make life easier… but might make them shorter, instead! And then, learn ‘The Chilling Secret of the Lighthouse!'” The comic is written by Joe Caramagna and illustrated by Luca Usai and Gianfranco Florio.

image c. 2017 IDW Comics

Where’s The Pigeon?

The strange meeting of Hanna-Barbera pushed sideways through DC Comics continues with the recent release of Dastardly & Muttley #1. According to them, it’s like this: “It’s a red-letter day for the good folk of Unliklistan as they start to power up their first atomic reactor. But after pushing the wrong button, the ultra-rare radioactive element, unstabilium, has been released into the atmosphere! Now it’s up to pilot Lt. Col. Richard ‘Dick’ Atcherly and his navigator Captain Dudley ‘Mutt’ Muller to save the day. Will they safely complete their mission? Or are things about to get a little…wacky?” Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Mauricet, it’s available now.

image c. 2017 DC Comics

Crackers, Gromit!

It’s a given that everyone does an “Art of…” book for their new animated features these days. Sometimes there are even retrospective “Art of…” books for various studios. Aardman Animation, however, had not jumped on that bandwagon — until now! The Art of Aardman is a new hardcover (available now from Simon & Schuster) that celebrates 40 years (!) of the house that brought us Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep and so much more. Featuring a forward by founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton, it takes a behind-the-scenes look at Aardman through the sketchbooks of such famous directors as Nick Park, Richard Starzak, and others.

image c. 2017 Simon & Schuster

Flipper Bird with Stripes

Another item we somehow passed over — and it’s been around a while! According to Wikipedia, The Jungle Bunch is a French / American / British animated TV series developed by David Alaux and Eric Tosti in 2013. It’s been airing in North America on the Universal Kids network. More recently a selection of episodes were edited together into a DVD release: The Jungle Bunch — The Movie, featuring the voice of John Lithgow. “The Jungle Bunch is the exciting tale of Maurice, a penguin who was raised in the jungle and thinks he’s a tiger! When two penguins from his Antarctic homeland come in search of ‘The Great Tiger Warrior’ to defend their colony from an invading herd of walruses, Maurice assembles a misfit team of jungle friends to save the day!” It’s available now at Amazon, and the trailer is up on YouTube.

image c. 2017 Universal

Save