With The Iron Giant: Signature Edition now screening at festivals and special event domestic screenings looming, fans of the beloved movie will notice new sequences in the film that were animated by Pasadena, Calif.-based Duncan Studio.
Director Brad Bird chose Duncan Studio to work on the re-release of the 1999 Warner Bros. Pictures movie because of his admiration for founder Ken Duncan and that the studio employed a number of crewmembers from the original production.
“Brad had storyboarded two additional sequences during the production of the original film that were never finished due to time and budget constraints,” said Duncan, head of Duncan Studio. “So when Warner Bros. approached us earlier this year about setting up a team to help bring Brad’s vision to fruition, we jumped at the chance to work on this beloved classic. Coincidentally, we already had several key artists and animators who worked on the original film working at our studio, so it seemed like a great fit,” he continued.
Among the veterans from the original film, animation supervisors Chris Sauve and Wendy Perdue reprised their roles and animated their characters Dean and Annie, along with the help of animator Sandro Cleuzo; original background department head, Dennis Venizelos, oversaw backgrounds for the new sequences; and effects animation was again supplied by Michel Gagné.
Additionally, a crew of approximately 20 artists at the studio animated the CG Giant, created layouts, painted the backgrounds, cleaned up the hand-drawn animation, inked and painted the characters, and composited all elements digitally over the course of four months.
The Iron Giant: Signature Edition arrives in theaters for a special event screening Sept. 30, with an encore event in select markets set for Oct. 4. Tickets are on sale now, through www.FathomEvents.com, with The Iron Giant: Signature Edition available on digital platforms later this fall.
