DreamWorks Animation may be considered the red-headed stepchild to Disney’s Pixar brand, but that’s not to say their movies have been awful. In fact, besides them being great little moneymakers for DreamWorks, they’ve started to get some great critical acclaim, like last year’s How to Train Your Dragon. This year, the studio has two animated titles in the pipeline. Kung Fu Panda 2 is set to be released on May 26th. Puss in Boots, a spin-off from the Shrek franchise, will arrive this fall on November 4th.
Here’s the rest of the schedule:
June 8, 2012: Madagascar 3
Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippopotamus and Melman the giraffe are still fighting to get home to New York; King Julien, Maurice, and the penguins are along for the adventure. This time the road takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus which they will reinvent Madagascar style.
Frances McDormand will appear as a villain, an animal control officer.
Nov. 21, 2012: Rise of the Guardians
Based on William Joyce’s The Guardians of Childhood, and similar to Shrek, it will be a contemporary fairytale based on existing fairytale characters. The film features a group of heroes from various childhood stories – Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and Jack Frost (Chris Pine) – who join together in an adventure to stop Pitch the Boogeyman (Jude Law) from sending the world into “eternal darkness”.
March 1, 2013: The Croods
Surviving in a volcanic world is tough enough, but caveman Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage) gets a rude awakening when an earthquake forces him to leave behind the only world he knows. With his family in tow, he ventures out into the volatile world in search of a new home. The situation becomes even more complicated when Grug’s family – in particular his eldest daughter – become smitten with a nomad (Ryan Reynolds) they encounter on their dangerous journey. This quirky, imaginative stranger’s search for ‘tomorrow’ is at odds with Grug’s reliance on the traditions of yesterday. Chris Sanders, one of the co-directors of How to Train Your Dragon, co-directs along with Kirk DeMicco.
June 7, 2013: Turbo
Nov. 8, 2013: Me and My Shadow
March 21, 2014: Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Mr. Peabody is a fictional dog who appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s television animated series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show. Sherman is “his boy” (a playful reverse on the whole “boy and his dog”). Peabody is a genius who adopted Sherman for company. Sherman is a naive but fairly bright, inquisitive, earnest and energetic lad who’s always one step behind getting his friend’s dreadful puns. In appearance, Peabody is a small white dog with floppy ears. Sherman is always in need of having his hair combed. He wears a white tee-shirt and dark shorts. Each character wears a pair of oversized horn-rimmed glasses. Rob Minkoff, famous for co-directing The Lion King for Disney directs the feature. The main character Mr. Peabody will be voiced by Robert Downey, Jr.
June 20, 2014: How to Train Your Dragon 2
