DreamWorks Animation is known for being prolific, but the studio has just announced a massive 12-picture slate that runs through 2016. Hereâs a brief look:
- The Croods â March 22nd, 2013
- Turbo â July 19th, 2013
- Mr. Peabody & Sherman â November 1st, 2013
- Me and My Shadow â March 14th, 2014
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 â June 20th, 2014
- Happy Smekday! â November 26th, 2014
- The Penguins of Madagascar â March 27th, 2015
- Trolls (working title) â June 5th, 2015
- B.O.O: Bureau of Otherworldy Operations â November 6th, 2015
- Mumbai Musical (working title) â December 19th, 2015
- Kung Fu Panda 3 â March 16th, 2016
- How to Train Your Dragon 3 â June 18th, 2016
Hit the jump for more details on this ambitious line-up of animated films.
This release slate announcement comes on the heels of the news that DreamWorks Animation struck a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox, who will handle the studioâs films after DWAâs contract with Paramount Pictures expires at the end of this year. Â This Novemberâs Rise of the Guardians will be the final DWA film released by Paramount.
This slate (per THR) hips us to a title change on the Seth Rogen-voiced B.O.O: Bureau of Otherwordly Operations, which was previously referred to as Boo U. The 2010 iteration of the film centered on a ghost who must return to ghost school in order to learn how to be a better spook, but it's unknown how much of the plot has changed in development. Tony Leondis (Igor) is directing.
The How to Train Your Dragon 3 announcement isnât a shock since DWA head Jeffrey Katzneberg previously announced that he envisioned the series as a trilogy, but we now know that Dean DeBlois will be returning to direct for Dragon 3. DeBlois previously wrote and directed the first two Dragon films, so itâll be nice to see him bring the trilogy to a close.
As you can see, DreamWorks Animation plays things a bit differently than rival animation house Pixar.  In addition to announcing their full slate through 2016, the studio is aiming to release at least three films a year, with a whopping four new films set to open in 2015.  John Lasseter and the folks at Pixar are remiss to even announce a project until itâs a ways through development, and the studio has yet to release more than one new feature a year. DWA must be confident that all of these projects will be completely seen through, even though 2016 feels really, really far away right now.  Hopefully we'll get more films along the lines of How to Train Your Dragon and less Megamind.