Here’s a triple news treat from around the wonderful world of animation as we round up pertinent announcements and awards announced today!
Yuko Lands on Top
First up, Cinekid Festival 2022 in Amsterdam unwrapped their prizes for the best films, series, games and apps screened during the festival’s 36th edition that began on October 15 and still runs through October 30. Best Children’s Film was awarded to Yuku and the Himalayan Flower, directed by Rémi Durin and Arnaud Demuynk. Their whimsical film tells the touching tale of the brave mouse Yuku who goes in search of a legendary Himalayan flower with her ukulele.
Harold and the Purple Crayon Gets a New Date
Elsewhere, Sony’s Columbia Pictures’ live-action Harold and the Purple Crayon has had its release date shoved further down the calendar from January 27, 2023 to June 30, 2023. Oscar-nominated director Carlos Saldanha (Ferdinand) helmed this big screen project from a screenplay courtesy of David Guion and Michael Handelman (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb). It’s adapted from the classic 1955 children’s book by Crockett Johnson and follows a curious young kid named Harold who conjures up fantasy worlds with his magic purple crayon.
Disney Imagineering Icon to Retire
And lastly, Disney Imagineering’s Bob Weis, the current Global Imagineering Ambassador and former President of Walt Disney Imagineering, relayed word today that he’ll retire at the end of 2022 after serving as one one Disney’s true luminaries for 42 years.
Weis first came to Walt Disney Imagineering back in 1980 and soon relocated to Japan with the massive team building Tokyo Disneyland. Other assignments over the decades included Disney’s Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios), Tokyo DisneySea, and the reimagining of Disney California Adventure. Recently he headed up a creative team for the development, design, and construction of Shanghai Disney Resort.
