Director Tom McGrath (Megamind) may make his live-action debut directing denizens of the afterlife in Rentaghost, starring Ben Stiller.  The picture, inspired by a British children’s TV series, follows “an American turnaround consultant who is sent to the UK to reinvigorate a failing company,” and finds jobs for ghosts and ghouls. Having co-directed all three of the wildly successful Madagascar movies, McGrath would reunite with Stiller, who voiced Alex the Lion in the animated films.

Before Fox picked the picture up from Warner Bros., it had starred Russell Brand in the lead role.  With Stiller attached and Night at the Museum scribes, Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant writing, McGrath’s addition could further seal up box-office gold as families will likely head to the theaters in droves when the movie opens next year.  McGrath’s entry into negotiations comes via Variety.

The DreamWorks Animation panel at Comic-Con 2012 featured chief creative officer Bill Damashke, James Baxter (supervising animator on The Croods), Tom McGrath (director of the Madagascar series), and Patrick Hanenberger (production designer on Rise of the Guardians).  The panel started with a clip reel  of highlights from the DreamWorks filmography, from Shrek to Kung Fu Panda to How to Train Your Dragon.  Given the panel members, the reel and the discussion shifted mainly to Madagascar 3 (currently in theaters), Rise of the Guardians (in theaters November 21), and The Croods (coming March 2013).  The Rise of the Guardians section was nothing you haven’t already seen in this trailer, but the Croods footage was brand new, and it looks very interesting.  Hit the jump for more.

Opening this weekend is DreamWorks Animation’s next 3D movie Megamind. Featuring the voices of  Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and David Cross, Megamind is the story of the villain that actually wins.  Imagine if Lex Luthor killed Superman.  What would his life be like without a worthy adversary to fight?  What would make him happy?  These are the questions Megamind must face.

Anyway, last weekend DreamWorks held a press junket here in Los Angeles and I got to sit down with David Cross (he plays Megamind’s assistant Minion).  During my exclusive interview, we talked about TIFF 2010, all the different animated projects he’s been working on, making Megamind, working for DreamWorks, what’s the status of Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom, will The Increasingly Poor Decision of Todd Margret get a second season and what was making that show like, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read or listen to what David Cross had to say.

Finally, I’m not sure if I’ll be transcribing the press conference with Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, David Cross and director Tom McGrath.  So in case I don’t, you can click here to listen to the audio.

Three of the best improv comedic actors around helped kick off the Hall H programming at 2010 San Diego Comic Con with a lot of laughs and some good looking 3D footage. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill joined director Tom McGrath to pump up Megamind, which will be released on November 5, 2010.

They group presented a five-minute extended trailer for the film, which features Ferrell as the titular villain who actually kills his arch-nemesis (voiced by Brad Pitt) and finds himself at a loss of purpose. Hit the jump for our rundown of the funny panel, where Brad Pitt was rumored to be in attendance. And kind of was.

Earlier today, I attended a DreamWorks Animation event at the Pacific Design Center here in Los Angeles.  The purpose of the event was to showcase what DreamWorks will be releasing in 2010 to an audience of journalists from around the world.  While some of the footage was not complete, the studio showed us the opening thirty minutes of Shrek Forever After, a few scenes from Megamind, and all of an almost-completed How to Train Your Dragon.

The quick info is…I thought all the footage looked great.  And this is coming from someone that hated Shrek the Third. More after the jump: