In the new family comedy Hop, which seamlessly blends CG animation with live-action, Russell Brand provides the voice for E.B., the teenage son of the Easter Bunny. Poised to claim his birthright and take over the title and all the power that comes with it, E.B. decides to give up egg painting and candy production and flees Easter Island for Hollywood, to pursue his dream of becoming a drummer. Once there, he encounters Fred (James Marsden) who, at 30, is also unhappy with the path that his family has put him on, and the two realize that maybe they can help each other in achieving their dreams.

At the film’s press day, Russell Brand talked about how much fun it was to bring the Easter Bunny to life, having his own childhood fantasies of becoming a rock star, working within the parameters of a family film, and the animated characters that he enjoyed as a kid. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Universal has released another trailer for Illumination Entertainment’s (Despicable Me) Easter-centered Hop has been released. The film tells the story of the young Easter-bunny-to-be, voiced by Russell Brand, who doesn’t want to take the job and spend his life delivering candy to kids, and eventually ends up in the care of a slacker played by James Marsden . Some clips from the film were released a couple of weeks ago as well.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer. Hop also stars (or features the voice of) Kaley Cuoco, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, David Hasselhoff, Chelsea Handler, Hank Azaria and Hugh Laurie. The film hits theaters on April 1^st.

With Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s Hop opening April 1, I was able to sit down with Christopher Meledandri (CEO of Illumination) earlier today for an extended interview.  As most of you know, Illumination’s first movie, Despicable Me, went on to earn over five hundred and twenty seven million dollars at the worldwide box office.  Not bad for a film that had no build in audience.

Over the past year, Illumination has been developing a number of projects and towards the end of my interview, I asked Meledandri about each of them.  So if you’re curious about the status of Curious George, Tim Burton’s stop-motion animation adaptation of The Addams Family, Ricky Gervais’ Flanimals, The Lorax, and the Despicable Me sequel, hit the jump:

Universal Pictures has released seven clips from director Tim Hill’s (Alvin and the Chipmunks) CG/live-action family film, Hop.  The film, which comes from Illumination Entertainment (the same company that made Despicable Me), stars James Marsden (Enchanted) as a slacker who finds himself taking care of the Easter Bunny (voiced by Russel Brand) after he accidentally injures him.  Hop also stars (or features the voice of) Kaley Cuoco, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, David Hasselhoff, Chelsea Handler, Hank Azaria and Hugh Laurie.  Hit the jump to check out the clips:

Universal has released a full-length trailer for their upcoming live-action/CGI family comedy Hop.  The film features Russell Brand as the voice of the Easter Bunny scion who doesn’t want the gig of delivering candy to people.  Also, he shits jelly beans.  I never expected to see a trailer where a character shits out jelly beans on to the roof of James Marsden’s car, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with some new images.  Hop opens April 1st.

Universal Pictures has released the first teaser trailer for Tim Hill’s (Alvin and the Chipmunks) upcoming CG/live-action family film, Hop.  The film, which comes from the same company who made this summer’s Despicable Me, stars James Marsden (Enchanted) as a slacker who finds himself taking care of the Easter Bunny (voiced by Russel Brand) after he accidentally injures him.  Instead of letting you know what the film is going to be about, the teaser instead features a cute CGI rabbit playing the drums to Song 2 by Blur.  Why?  I don’t really know.   Hop opens on April 1, 2011.  You can hit the jump to watch the trailer and to read a plot synopsis for the film.

Opening today is Universal’s 3D CGI feature Despicable Me and it features the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Julie Andrews, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, and Jemaine Clement.  The film is about a villain named Gru (Carell) who has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.  I saw a screening and thought it was a really sweet family film and it should do very well at the box office.

Anyway, I was able to interview producer Chris Meledandri (Ice Age franchise, Robots, Horton Hears a Who!) and we discussed making the movie, how did it change over the course of its development, how did Steve Carell find the voice of Gru and was the studio afraid of him doing an accent, the 3D, and we also talked about his future projects like The Addams Family, The Lorax, Hop, and more.  It’s a great interview so hit the jump to check it out.  It’s time indexed so you can watch the parts you’re interested in:

At today’s press junket for Despicable Me, I was able to sit down with producer Chris Meledandri for an extended on camera interview.  While I’ll be posting the full interview the week of release, he gave me updates on director Tim Hill’s Hop, the next Dr. Seuss animated movie The Lorax, and a small but important update on the stop motion animated version of The Addams Family that will be directed by Tim Burton.

As we reported by in March, Tim Burton has signed on to helm a stop-motion animation adaptation of The Addams Family.  What was not known is where the project is in his always busy schedule.  According to Meledandri, it’s still in the very early stages.  Meaning don’t expect the film anytime soon.  For more on Addams Family, Hop and The Lorax, hit the jump:

Though rather small, we do have our first look at the posters for Hop and The Lorax, as well as what appears to be the cover of a novelization of Despicable Me.  The link between the three films is Illumination Entertainment, a production studio headed by Chris Meledandri, one of the minds behind Ice Age (check out Steve’s interview with the man here).  You can find more information on each project after the jump.