The trailer for Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away 3D has gone online.  Producer James Cameron and writer/director Andrew Adamson (Shrek) have adapted the popular show into a 3D motion picture that’s about…something.  Cirque du Soleil shows aren’t really about story as much as they’re about seeing people who are comprised only of double-joints.  I was skeptical about a screen adaptation of Cirque du Soleil since it would be tough to recapture the excitement and energy of their live shows, but their performance at this year’s Oscar ceremony was one of the program’s few highlights, so now I’m curious to see what Worlds Away has to offer.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away 3D opens December 21st.

Cirque du Soleil is a unique experience that everyone should see at least once.  Paramount and James Cameron are going to try and make that happen by taking Cirque du Soleil out of the massive tent and bringing it into comparatively tiny theaters.  The film, entitled Cirque du Soleil World Away, will be written and directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek) and be released in 3D because 3D is immersive and if you’re not immersed then you clearly hate cinema.  Worlds Away will have an original story, and show off the acrobatics and absolutely bizarre tone Cirque has become known for.  Don’t tell your kids, “Oh!  It’s a circus!”  They will be disappointed.  Instead, tell them “We’re going to see a man try to stick his head up his own ass!  In 3D!”

Hit the jump for the full press release.  Cirque du Soleil World Away will be released later this year.

Andrew Adamson, of the Shrek and Chronicles of Narnia franchises, is getting back into feature animation with a film adaptation of the comic, Beasts of Burden. The Dark Horse mini-series, created by Eisner-award winners Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson, is set in the unassuming little town of Burden Hill. When supernatural events start to occur, it’s up to a group of dogs (and one cat) to protect their owners from the forces of evil.

Heat Vision announced that Adamson will team with Shrek-series producer Aron Warner and Dark Horse Entertainment’s Mike Richardson. Keith Goldberg, also from Dark Horse Entertainment, will serve as executive producer. Jared Mass of Reel FX, which specializes in CG and live-action/animation hybrids, will oversee the project. Hit the jump for more on Beasts of Burden, including a synopsis of the books.

Hugh Laurie is set to star in an adaptation of Lloyd Jones novel’ Mr. Pip for writer-director Andrew Adamson (Shrek 2).  According to Risky Business, “Mr. Pip tells the story of the last white man left on the war-torn island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, who reopens a school and reads his favorite novel, Great Expectations, to the students, inspiring a gifted 14-year-old named Matilda.”  For who can inspire a classroom full of fertile young minds better than The Last White Man (my rejected title for the film)?

Laurie is continuing to star on Fox’s House, and will co-star in the indie drama The Oranges with Leighton Meester and Catherine Keener.  He’s also providing voice work for the upcoming animated film Arthur Christmas.  Hit the jump for a statement from Laurie on joining Mr. Pip and a synopsis of the novel.

When DreamWorks SKG was formed, former Disney Animation guru Jeffery Katzenberg was intent on making animated films at his newly created movie studio. By 2000, the studio already had two animated films under their belt (Antz and The Prince of Egypt) and their focus was on 2D animation. While Katzenberg was determined to re-capture the 2D animation magic he enjoyed while at Disney, a handful of animators were working on the “ugly duckling” film of the studio: a weird little picture called Shrek. Fast-forward to the critical and financial disaster that was The Road to El Dorado in the midst of Pixar’s wild success with 3D animated films, and everyone’s attention focused on the only 3D film the studio had in the pipeline, Shrek.

What began as a laborious project, on which animators were sent to work as punishment, suddenly became the studio’s saving grace.  Witty, edgy, and ballsy as hell, Shrek was the anti-Disney film; a giant middle finger from Jeffery Katzenberg to those at Disney that had ousted him so suddenly. An instant smash-hit, the film spawned the studio’s first franchise and a merchandising cash-cow. Now, Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After are available together on Blu-ray for the first time. My review of the Shrek: The Whole Story box set after the jump.

James Cameron is producing a 3D film set in the world of Cirque Du Soleil that combines “narrative storytelling” with filmed Las Vegas performances of the various shows.  Director Andrew Adamson (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) is currently shooting the narrative segments in New Zealand based on a story of his own creation.  Adamson has reportedly completed about a third of the film already, and shown sample footage to several interested distributors.

Cirque Du Soleil is the primary financier on the project, with hopes for a series of family friendly films that prominently feature the circus.  Hit the jump for a 3D-ready clip (read: hula hoops!) from the Cirque show Alegría.

Shrek producer Aron Warner has optioned the rights to Paul Melko’s sci-fi novel The Walls of the Universe.  According to Variety, “The sci-fi novel tracks the adventures of an Ohio high-schooler named John Rayburn as his parallel universe doppelganger, John Prime, hoodwinks him into switching places and strands him in John Prime’s universe.”  Of course, the real joke is on John Prime who is forced to attend an Ohio high-school.  This concludes me taking a shot at a state’s high-school system for no particular reason.

Shrek and Shrek 2 co-director Andrew Adamson will co-produce for Warner’s production company, Strange Weather.  Warner says he thinks Walls “has a ton of potential to explore the idea of parallel universes in a personal way, like Back to the Future did with time travel.”  I’m curious to see how this will compare to TV’s Fringe, which handles the parallel universe angle in an interesting way on a weekly basis.

DreamWorks Animation and Paramount have released a bunch of new Shrek Forever After images as part of an “early” look at the film.   With a release date of May 21st, I’m a bit surprised they’re releasing so many images this early.  But I’m not a marketing guy, and both studios clearly know how to open a movie.

As I have said a few times, I saw the first 30 minutes of Shrek Forever After a few months ago and thought it looked pretty good.  And this is coming from someone that did hated the previous two films.  Will the fourth installment be good?  Can Mike Myers end his run of bad films?  We’ll all know next month.  Until then, hit the jump to check out the 18 images we were sent: