DreamWorks Animation is going back to basic with their new movie, The Croods. Croods will be a prehistoric comedy set in the early days of mankind. Variety is reporting that Croods will feature Nicholas Cage as a tribal leader who must lead his people to a new home in the aftermath of a disastrous earthquake. Ryan Reynolds will voice a wanderer full of modern (read: dangerous) ideas. Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps) will share the writing and directing with Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch). Hit the jump for my thoughts on DWA's latest project.

While the words Space Chimps should be an immediate danger sign, the fact that John Cleese helped create the idea for Croods is very heartening. Moreover, the inclusion of Sanders, who also co-directed the upcoming DWA picture How to Train Your Dragon indicates that Croods has a good shot of developing into a solid picture by the time it is released March 30, 2012. Of course, that sort of expectation is becoming commonplace around DWA. The studio has quietly become a very consistent performer and is currently riding a 2-year, 5 picture streak of films grossing more than $350 million worldwide. In fact, in the past 5 years, DWA has released 11 movies and only two of them Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbitt and Flushed Away did not crack $300 million, instead setting for $192 million and $175 million, respectively. Granted, their films have not garned Pixar-level critical acclaim but their Tomatometers are rather fresh.

DWA will look to continue its success this year with three new releases, Dragon (March 26), Shrek Forever After (May 21) and MegaMind (November 5).