This is quite honestly one of my absolute favorite named spies, Matter-Eater Lad. After eating the lock right out of the door, the gun out of the security guard's hand and walking right into the Warner Animation world... well... He came across a ton of Warner Animation news, so here ya go...
I was at Warner Feature Animation over in Glendale about a month ago. There was so much shit all over the walls, character sketches, storyboards, painted scenes, I was almost overwhelmed by all that I saw. I was also trying not to get busted staring like an idiot at all the pictures so I kind of rush-glanced at stuff as a hurried down the hall. The thing that most struck me is that each film is very different looking from the other, real jumps in style and texture. Here's what I remember seeing:
A project called "The Zoo", which is about talking animals at a, 'natch, zoo. It looks pretty funny. There was one drawing of a lemur that I laughed out loud at. I saw a lot of other characters and names, too, but I don't want to spoil any surprises on your page.
Something called "The Jester" I believe which had a very European feel to it. There was a picture of who I guess is the bad guy riding on a really evil looking bull. It was cool.
A version of "A Mid-Summer's Night's Dream" with a very wiry-people "Nightmare Before Christmas" kind of look. At least, that's the impression I got in the brief instant I looked at it.
I saw a few Iron Giant things and absolutely NO Willy Wonka stuff.
But the one project I did get a good look at is one that I'm really excited about... DC's "THE NEW GODS"!!!! They even had a conceptual movie poster which looked VERY Kirby-esque. All the characters were there (most of them having already appeared on the Superman cartoon) and the concept drawings for New Genesis and Apokolips were just FUCKING AWESOME! I really hope this is an animated film and not a new series, because the artwork I saw was just too good for TV.
Well, that's all I can remember (or that I'm willing to say anyway), so I hope that gets all those animation fans out there watering at the mouth. Remember, there were literally some twenty-odd projects posted all over the place, and from what I saw, Quest For Camelot was WB Feature Animation dipping their pinky toes in the very top of the water, just barely breaking the surface. Disney and Dreamworks may have a bigger competitor in them than they expect.
Keep up the good work, Harry, and kudos on the Peter Jackson experiment.
Matter-Eater Lad
