Timeless Films and Constantin Film announced from Cannes that Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated actress Felicity Jones (Rogue One, The Theory of Everything), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones, The Maze Runner), Primetime Emmy nominee Patrick Stewart (Logan, Star Trek) and Golden Globe nominee Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland, The Good Doctor) will feature in the voice cast of upcoming animated family adventure Dragon Rider, due in 2019.
The newly announced stars join Meera Syal (Doctor Strange), Sanjeev Bhaskar (Absolutely Anything) and Nonso Anozie (Cinderella) in director Tomer Eshed’s adaptation of the bestselling Cornelia Funke novel. Eshed makes his feature debut with Dragon Rider, having most recently created the multi-award-winning CG short Our Wonderful Nature – The Common Chameleon.
Written by Johnny Smith (Gnomeo & Juliet), Dragon Rider trails an unlikely trio of heroes – young silver dragon Firedrake (Brodie-Sangster), Sorrel (Jones) the mountain brownie and a boy called Ben (Highmore) – as they embark on an epic adventure and battle against a vicious, dragon-killing machine called Nettlebrand (Stewart) to find the “Rim of Heaven.”
“Felicity, Thomas, Patrick, Freddie, Meera, Sanjeev and Nonso are extraordinary actors whose unique voices will bring to life our wonderful animated characters. Director Tomer Eshed is creating an amazing visual world full of dragons and magical creatures and we’re delighted to be re-uniting with Constantin Film, a production and distribution powerhouse to deliver another hit animated, family film to buyers,” said Timeless Films Chairman and CEO, Ralph Kamp.
Constantin Film CEO Martin Moszkowicz commented: “I am thrilled to see so many great artists joining Tomer Eshed and his creative team for the next outstanding animated family film event from Constantin Film.”
Dragon Rider will be produced by Constantin Film’s Martin Moszkowicz and Oliver Berben together with the co-producers Cyborn and RiseFX along with the team of Lumatic. Timeless Films is handling worldwide sales — a raft of international deals have already been completed, and sales continue going into Cannes.
Timeless Films recently distributed Monster Family and Rock Dog, and previously Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver, which was released by Warner Bros. in Germany this Easter.
