DreamWorks Animation has made its second cancellation announcement since being purchased by Comcast and absorbed into the NBCUniversal family: Australian comedian-actor-writer-musician-director Tim Minchin’s animated ode to his home country (and DWA’s sole announced release for 2018) Larrikins has fallen under the axe.
News broke after Minchin posted a statement to the website of New York venue Feinstein’s/54 Below announcing a maudlin, boozy show (which sold out quite quickly):
“I’ve recently been working in 3 different continents, missing my kids a lot, sleeping too little and not playing piano enough. And then a couple of days ago, the animated film to which I’ve dedicated the last 4 years of my life was shut down by the new studio execs,” the post read. “The only way I know how to deal with my impotent fury and sadness is to subject members of the public to the spectacle of me getting drunk and playing ballads.”
Larrikins, which was to be directed by and feature songs by Minchin (who has written lyrics for the Matilda and Groundhog Day musicals) followed an uptight bilby on a music-driven adventure across the Australian Outback. The film was set to star Hugh Jackman and Margot Robbie, leading an all-Aussie-star cast which also included Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Rose Byrne and Ben Mendelsohn.
The news comes a few days after DWA announced a sequel to Trolls. The studio previously canceled a planned Croods 2 following the Comcast acquisition.
Dammit!
F&($($^ Dreamworks!!
It’s Universal/Comcast – not DreamWorks.
Uni made the decision to ax.
Sequels galore, limit the original stuff. Sounds like the trap Pixar is slowly heading into.
SLOWLY?!?!?
Where have you been for the past decade?!?!?!
They’ve sequelized all their huge hits!!!! 3 Toy Story’s, 2 Monster Inc’s, 2 Cars movies and their spin-offs, an announced sequel to The Incredibles ON THE BOARD, and so on!
This didn’t happen just yesterday… This is the way it’s been since Eisner was eased out and Iger came on board as Disney’s CEO.
They’re STILL doing cheapquels… They just do them more often with polyons than pencils!
A pox on Pixar/Disney and DW!
They’ve killed my interest in the American animated feature film market completely! Post-2002, I have very little interest in what’s going on in the US market… It’s so derivative! Even the champion country of derivative animated TV shows, Japan, still occasionally does something different in theaters AND television. It happens at least 1-3 times a year over there. In the States, there’s MAYBE something unique in a decade? Perhaps two times in a decade if we’re lucky now!
It’s too bad the banal formulas (princesses, buddy movies) won over most sparks of originality… It’s too bad so many “animation” fans REWARD this banality.
It’s no wonder many feature film crew members left American theatrical animation and went into TV, or left the industry altogether. You’d have to get sick of making the same film over and over again after a while!!! Three to five years of your life spent making Bambi 3?!??! No thanks!!!
DreamWorks is slowing fitting into Illumination’s business module.
And I was saying this would be DreamWorks’ next decent film. He should find another studio to have it produced under, because if DreamWorks canceled it, I’m assuming they gave up their rights to it too.
I was glad when they announced Trolls 2, but after this, I’m sort of disappointed with them.
I honestly think I would have a heart-attack if I had to cancel Swords of Power with no hope of ever reviving it. I don’t think I could take it. I don’t know how he can take it.
No surprise here. DW has been wanting to kill this awful, expensive, and runaway project for some time now. The “director” had no idea or respect for the vagaies and marathon like pace of animated film production, nor the decision making that must be made long in advance of actual production. No one at DW is surprised this was killed. Only surprised it took this long.
The studio executives shouldn’t have done that in the first place when DreamWorks was acquired by Comcast!!!! There must be a strong disapproval of this cancellation!!!
Why not have a petition started to change their minds?
I’m thinking that might be a good idea for someone to start a petition to have those guys change their minds on continuing the production.
Thanks. Do you know any good petition websites?
Well, I don’t think so.
Wait a second, I think I know the petition website. It’s Change.org.
I’m starting to hate you, DreamWorks Animation.
Thank goodness. This sounds awful. Children everywhere are relieved.
THAT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!