• Prince of Egypt
• Shrek
• Ash
• Antz
• El Dorado

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The first animated feature to come from Dreamworks SKG, the $1 billion entertainment consortium of Stephen Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. The musical story of Moses, the Biblical leader who guided the Jews out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan, is expected for a 1998 Christmas release. Decided upon as the studio's first animated feature, this story was chosen because of its epic quality. SKG promises to have sharp, memorable songs throughout the movie. Stephen Schwartz, who shared two 1996 Oscars with Alan Menken for their "Pocahontas" score, will write both music and lyrics for "The Prince of Egypt". The film will concentrate on Mose´s earlier years and his dealings in the Royal House of Egypt, with the more traditional images of the Exodus and the Ten Commandments covered in an epilogue.

It was announced that stars such as Val Kilmer (young Moses), Ralph Fiennes and Michelle Pfeiffer will provide the voices for the animated movie. Joining them also are Mel Brooks, Natalie Portman, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Stewart (as the Pharoah), Helen Mirren, Steve Martin and Martin Short.

The film is directed by Simon Wells (director of "Fievel Goes West", "We´re back" and "Balto"), Brenda Chapman (story supervisor on "The Lion King", and the first ever female director of a Hollywood animated feature; married to Kevin Lima, co-director of Disney´s Tarzan) and Steve Hickner (producer of "Balto").

Penney Finkelman Cox and Sandra Rabins are the producers. Other crew members include Doug Cooper (technical director), Doug Ikeler (3-D computer animator), David S. Karoll (co-head of color models), Rosanna Lyons (Visual effects animator), Robert Naudon (2-D/3-D effects), Saty Raghavachary (Graphics Software Developer), Vicky C. Snyder (Digital development), Jeff Topping (Visual effects animator). Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook (Story supervisors), Kathy Altireri (Art director), Don Paul (Effects supervisor). Supervising animators include Kathy Zielinski (Frollo), Christoph Serrand, James Baxter (Quasimodo, Belle) and Duncan Marjoribanks (Sebastian, Abu), who will be animating Moses.

Special Graphics will be provided by Silicon Graphics who promise to add an extra zing to the recent advances of computer animation with it's fusion with the tradional animation which takes on the style of Disney's animated masterpieces.Much of the film will be traditionally animated but there are some pretty dramatic elements which are particularly well suited to computer animation. SKG also uses Animo from Cambridge Animation Systems.

On the topic of 3D animation and digital effects, Marjoribanks' advice is clear. "Wherever it works, by all means, use it!" Marjoribanks notes that "in traditional features, what computer animation does best is to improve the quality of a production, rather than saving money over hand drawn methods." DreamWorks' Prince of Egypt uses extensive digital animation and effects in their rendition of the Parting of the Red Sea and in the vast multitudes of "extras" necessary for a biblical epic. When asked about the use of 3D modeling and animation for crowd scenes, Marjoribanks declares, "They (the 3D animators) are welcome to them." There are limitations however, to modeling in three dimensions. While it is relatively easy to redraw a 2D character model, it can sometimes be more difficult to radically change a digital model. As Duncan points out, "It's hard to tweak a 3D model too far, without something breaking." Other computer-animated sequences include an unearthly Burning Bush. Jeffrey Katzenberg has reportedly consulted several prominent religious leaders about "The Prince of Egypt", which centers on the story of the Exodus which appears in the Bible's Old Testament and in the Koran. Katzenberg has allegedly met with Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed about the film's interpretation of Moses. The approval of Reed and others in the religious community may help diffuse some of the controversy surrounding the subject matter.

"The Prince of Egypt" will be a true test of whether an animated feature with a serious subject matter can stand on its own: the film will have no fast-food tie-ins and very little merchandising. "Our business should not be driven by merchandising potential," said Brad Globe, head of consumer products for DreamWorks. "The most important thing is quality. If it's compelling entertainment, the rest takes care of itself."

The movie opens with the song "Deliver Us" as Moses is placed in a basket in the river to escape the death of first bornes amongst the 'slaves'. The material will be treated with a great deal of respect, and in addition to "Deliver Us" we will also have "Tzipporah Escapes" and "Hieroglyph Nightmare".

The story follows two brothers, Moses and Ramses. Each brother is given a quest. Ramses is sent on a warrior's journey by his father and upon his return is given the title of prince. While Moses, the "strange" brother, is given a spiritual quest from God. For God's voice, every actor who has a speaking part recorded the lines, then a Boys and girls choir sung the lines. It's all put together digitally to make one booming voice. Word is that Dreamworks is looking for a worldwide release, the first ever.

From Ain't it Cool News: They had some finished frames blown up from the Prince of Egypt film (just one or two). One was of the slaves pulling the blocks to create the pyramids. The shot was grand and I can imagine it being amazing when shown on a big screen. There were hundreds of people in the shot (CGI like Hunchback) but one of the people working on the film there told me that the people would move realistically unlike the Hunchback crowd scenes. They've developed their own system of using "animated sprites" and the rest of the computer talk just whizzed over my head. The other shot was of the Nile with a flock of birds flying over the top, once again using the sprite system.

This Moses will be a Hebrew leader for the '90s, promises co-producer Penney Finkelman Cox: "We wanted a more dynamic hero rather than focus on the sidekicks or a villain."

A staff of 380 artists took inspiration from such sources as director David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia), 19th century illustrator Gustave Dore (who often depicted biblical scenes) and Claude Monet (the delicate lighting).

Of course, one must tread carefully when dealing with religion. There is a comical camel, Habibi, but he doesn't talk. There are songs by Stephen Schwartz of Godspell and Pocahontas fame, but characters won't be belting out toe-tappers. Fast-food tie-ins, a money-making must for most animated features, were nixed as inappropriate.

Some dramatic liberties were taken with the text. For instance, baby Moses is found among the rushes by the wife of the Pharaoh, not the daughter. To head off criticism, however, DreamWorks brought in 360 religious leaders from around the world to give the final "amen" to the script.

Copyright Dreamworks

Copyright Dreamworks

Copyright Dreamworks

Many thanks to Harry Knowles, Eric Lurio and Kika for the pics.

Shrek

Bill Perkins, the art director of Space Jam, and Ron Tippe, the producer of Space Jam, have both left Warner Brothers for Dreamworks. Ron Tippe is currently working on Shrek, a computer-animated feature about the search for true love. In the comedy, Shrek, a young ogre, falls head over heals in love with the ugliest princess in the world.The screenwriters are Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio ("Aladdin"), based on the children's picture book by William Steig. The movie features the voices of Chris Farley as Shrek, Janeane Garofalo and Eddie Murphy. The film has all the makings of a traditional fairy tale, until the hulking, ugly, smelly -yet adorable- ogre shows up instead of Prince Charming. Having no time for any heroic nonsense, Shrek simply wants his swamp back.

DreamWorks SKG announced it will use Microsoft Corp. technology for "Shrek". DreamWorks said the software developed by Microsoft's Montreal-based Softimage Inc. subsidiary has the ability to replicate motion and animate facial expressions. DreamWorks will also use Silicon Graphics technology in the movie production. The principal animation will take place at the DreamWorks Feature Animation studio in Los Angeles, California.

Vanguard Films, company headed by John Williams, is developing "Shrek" for the studio after signing a two-year, first-look production deal with DreamWorks. The film should be finished in 1999 but there is no release date yet.

It is said the movie has been shelved indefintely. The feature was originally going to use a combination of traditional keyframe animation with performance capture, for an entirely CG feature. The concept art has a fantasy-fairy tale feel to it.

After a ton of preproduction, the project has been throttled back for more 'development'. Latest word is that Dreamworks will still produce the project but the animation will be probably contracted out to PDI (Pacific Data Images). The problem is that they still don't have a story.

Ash

DreamWorks has acquired the feature film rights to Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti's new comic book hero, Ash, in which the company is targeting as a franchise for its animation unit. "Ash" tells the story of a firefighter who miraculously survives a blazing inferno and comes to realize he was spared by a force from the future that has given him extraordinary powers. It will be adapted for the screen by Rand Ravich. Dreamworks will be speaking to a Japanese director about handling the project, as it is focused with an anime style look.

"Antz", produced through Pacific Data Images, is a computer-generated animated comedy about an ant, Z-4195 ("Z" for short), who leads a revolt against the conformist ant colony in which he resides. The film teaches that one ant can make a difference. Woody Allen will voice the insect who becomes desenchanted with the day-to-day drudgery of the totalitarian ant world. Other voice talents include Sharon Stone as Princess Bala (Z's love interest), Sylvester Stallone as Weaver (Z's soldier ant buddy, who likes worker ant babes), Jennifer Lopez as Azteca (a worker ant babe), Danny Glover as General Formica (leader of the military industrial complex), Gene Hackman as Mandible, Christopher Walken as Cutter, Dan Aykroyd & Jane Curtin as the Wasps, John Mahoney as a Drunk Scout and Meryl Streep as the Queen.

The film will be released in 1998, along with "The prince of Egypt". The film is being directed by Eric Darnell, Larry Gutterman and Tim Johnson. Brad Lewis, Aron warner and Patty Wooton produce. In the production of Ants, DreamWorks and PDI will use a combination of Silicon Graphics "O2" desktop systems; "Origin200" servers with dual CPUs to be used for rendering; and "Origin2000" servers for media storage and file serving. Antz will mark DreamWorks' first animated full-feature coproduction with PDI since the companies announced their relationship in May 1996. The film is currently in its preproduction stages with principal animation taking place at PDI in Palo Alto, California.

Dreamworks second animated feature will be "El Dorado.City of Gold", with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice (the team behind "The Lion King"), and the voices of Kevin Kline, Kenneth Brannagh, Rosie Perez and Armand Assante. The film is a historical comedy that relates the misadventures of a pair of 16th century stable hands who stow away on a ship bound for the New World, only to come across the legendary golden city. The two are washed ashore with a horse. They stumble upon a native society and are worshiped as gods after being seen riding the horse (the tribe thinks they are horse-men). It's being directed by Will Finn and David Silverman ("The Simpsons"). Brooke Breton and Bonne Radford are the producers. Kathy Zielinski (Frollo) will be creating the villain. David White will be animating Miguel, one of the heroes (voiced by Brannagh), while James Baxter (Belle, Quasimodo) will be head animator for the other one.

Dylan Kohler, co-head of DreamWorks' technology department, states that they hope to start principal production on "El Dorado" by the middle of next year. The film is apparently set in Mexican/South African jungle. The characters remind a bit to LucasArts' Curse of Monkey Island, very cartoony.