Guardians of Ga’Hoole

Director Zack Snyder and Producer Debbie Snyder Interview LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS – They Also Talk SUCKER PUNCH, 3D, and More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: March 29th, 2010 at 8:43 pm

At this year’s ShoWest, I was able to participate in a roundtable interview with director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and his producing partner (and wife) Debbie Snyder for their upcoming animated movie Legend of the Guardians.  The movie is being done by the same company that did Happy Feet and it’s based on the Guardians of Ga’Hoole children’s novels.  If you haven’t seen the awesome trailer, watch it here.

During the interview they talked about why they wanted to make the movie, how they’ve been working on it since before Watchmen, how many “Zack Snyder shots” can we expect, how they did the 3D, and, of course, we also talked about his next live-action movie Sucker Punch and what can fans expect at Comic-Con.  Hint: our first look at Sucker Punch!

If you’re a fan of Zack Snyder, you’ll love the interview.  As always, I’ve provided both the transcript and the audio of the interview.

Zack Snyder’s Animated Movie Retitled to LEGENDS OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 18th, 2010 at 12:24 pm

Steve is on the Warner Bros. red carpet at ShoWest and snapped a photo of the banner for Zack Snyder’s upcoming animated movie Legends of the Guardians, except it doesn’t look like that’s the full title anymore.  Now it looks like it’s Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.  When the project was first announced, the title was The Guardians of Ga’Hoole.  The added subtitle makes me think that maybe there’s a franchise consideration, but it could also just be that people like owls and silly names.

Hit the jump for the full image and the plot synopsis.

First Trailer for Zak Snyder’s LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS

by Germain Lussier    Posted: March 4th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

The trailer for Zack Snyder’s latest, Legend of the Guardians, is now online thanks to Yahoo Movies.  It’s an animated film from the people behind Happy Feet and is based on the Guardians of Ga’Hoole children’s novels. The title was just (thankfully) changed from that and this trailer will be attached to prints of Alice in Wonderland. It was also just announced that this, along with Snyder’s follow up Sucker Punch, will be released in 3D.

Personally, I’m loving the artistry of this trailer.  The music gives it a very Where The Wild Things Are feel and the look closely resembles 300, if 300 stared a bunch of CG owls.  Making Legend of the Guardians seem even more epic is the insane voice cast.  There’s Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Emilie de Ravin, Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Helen Mirren, Abbie Cornish, David Wenham and many more.

The film will be released in prime 2011 Best Animated Feature Oscar consideration time on September 24, 2010. After the jump, check out the trailer itself, still photos and the official plot synopsis.

First Images from Zack Snyder’s LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 3rd, 2010 at 10:14 pm

The first images from director Zack Snyder’s animated film, Legend of the Guardians (formerly titled Guardians of Ga’Hoole), are now online and they’re a hoot.  Because the movie features owls.  And owls are known for making a “hooting” sound.  Moving on, USA Today has a first look at the film and describes it as a cross between Watership Down (good) and The Lord of the Rings (also good).  Here’s their synopsis:

The film, based on the first three books of Kathryn Lasky’s series, follows Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess), a young barn owl who is kidnapped by the owls of the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, or St. Aggie’s. The academy is supposed to be an orphanage, but instead it brainwashes its pupils into becoming soldiers who will ultimately clash with the wise, peaceful owls of Ga’Hoole.

The books are aimed at children but have adult and historical themes, such as wars meant to mirror Normandy Invasion and the ancient Battle of Thermopylae (aka, the battle in Snyder’s 300).  USA Today focuses on how Guardians will be a less violent film than Snyder’s previous three, but they do not explore how much speed-ramping will be used.  The trailer, which is attached to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, may answer that question.  Hit the jump to check out five images from the film, each pertaining to a different character.

Zack Snyder’s LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS Trailer Attached to ALICE IN WONDERLAND

by Bill Graham    Posted: March 3rd, 2010 at 7:36 am

Zack Snyder’s first animated film, Legend of the Guardians, was just retitled from Guardians of Ga’Hoole yesterday, but the marketing push for the film is moving full-steam ahead.  The writer of the novels the film is based off of, Kathryn Lasky, posted on her website (via slashfilm) that a trailer would be attached to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which is releasing this Friday.

“My big news is about the Guardians movie! A trailer for it will be shown all across the country attached to Alice in Wonderland starting March fifth.”

For just how long that trailer will be, the full synopsis, and a release date, hit the jump.

Zach Snyder’s Animated Film GUARDIANS OF GA’HOOLE Now Titled LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS

by Bill Graham    Posted: March 1st, 2010 at 5:23 pm

Zach Snyder’s (Watchmen, 300) first animated film was plagued by a title that would have likely had people scratching their heads when it hits theaters on Sept. 24.  So, in the name of mass consumption, Warner Bros. has switched from Guardians of Ga’Hoole to just simply Legend of the Guardians, according to Heat Vision.  I am all for helping audiences pronounce your film, but did they nearly neuter the film by overdoing it a bit?

Despite that concern, the film, based on a book series about owls (I know, let me explain) by Kathryn Lasky, is shaping up nicely, with a voice cast including Hellen Mirren, Hugo Weaving, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Emilie de Ravin, and Sam Neill. According to IMDb, the film revolves around this interesting plotline:

Soren, a young barn owl, is kidnapped by owls of St. Aggie’s, ostensibly an orphanage, where owlets are brainwashed into becoming soldiers. He and his new friends escape to the island of Ga’Hoole, to assist its noble, wise owls who fight the army being created by the wicked rulers of St. Aggie’s.

Sounds cool, doesn’t it.  Hit the jump for the official synopsis from Warner Bros.:

It’s Official: Warner Bros. to Release CLASH OF THE TITANS and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, Part 1 in 3D

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 3rd, 2010 at 10:05 am

Warner Bros. has confirmed what everyone already knew: Clash of the Titans and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 are going to be released in 3D.  They also announced Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Zack Snyder’s Guardians of Ga’Hoole are also going to be released in 3D.

With the worldwide success of Avatar, average moviegoers were exposed to 3D for the first time and they showed a willingness to wear the glasses and also pay a premium for the experience.  Therefore, it’s no surprise the studios are going to convert more of their 2D movies into 3D as it could means tens of millions of dollars in extra revenue.  The only problem with everyone going 3D is the amount of movie screens that are currently available.  As it stands, most movie theaters only have one or two screens that can handle 3D. Until theaters can run more 3D movies at the same time, it’ll be a battle every week for which movie plays in the theater.

I think we’re almost at the point that every big release is going to be in 3D and it’ll be more of a news story when the film is NOT released in the format.  I hope you like wearing the glasses. Hit the jump for the press release WB sent over:

Exclusive: Producer Dan Lin on the Live Action/Animation TOM AND JERRY Movie and BONE by Jeff Smith

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: December 21st, 2009 at 10:14 pm

Over the past few days I’ve been posting “7 Days with Producer Dan Lin”.  As I explained in the previous articles, I spoke at length with the Sherlock Holmes producer about not only his latest film, but everything he has in development.  Since the conversation ran so long, I’ve decided to break up the interview into many smaller parts.  I’ve already posted what he said about the Lego movie and Gangster Squad, as well as his thoughts on the Terminator Salvation ending and what’s up with future movies.  For today’s article, I’ve got him talking about the Tom and Jerry movie and the animated Bone movie – which is based on the comic by Jeff Smith.

Regarding Tom and Jerry, Lin says it’s going to be live action/animation hybrid and he compared it what was done on Alvin and the Chipmunks and Scooby-Doo.  He also said it would be a “different tone, obviously” with “CGI creations of the cat and the mouse.”

On Bone, Lin said Justin Monjo is writing the script and they already did a test with Animalogic (who did Happy Feet and Guardians of Ga’Hoole). He went on to say “it really looks like a mix of Shrek as far as the three Bone characters and their comedy, their Looney Tunes or Marx Brothers comedy set in a Lord of the Rings world. We’ve met with several directors and we hope to come to a director decision by January and Jeff Smith has been very intricately involved in the development process with us.”

Much more after the jump:

Copyright ©2005 - 2012. All Rights Reserved. California web design