Surprise! George Lucas may have washed his hands clean of the “Star Wars” franchise (some will say “thank Christ!”), but that doesn’t mean the filmmaker is sitting on his hands. Evidently he’s been quietly making a movie all this time —or at least he’s written one. It’s a new animated film from Lucasfilm Ltd. called “Strange Magic.”
Touchstone Pictures will release the film on January 23, 2015, and it’s a madcap fairy tale musical inspired by “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” According to a press release, “popular songs from the past six decades help tell the tale of a colorful cast of goblins, elves, fairies and imps, and their hilarious misadventures sparked by the battle over a powerful potion.” But mostly it’s wild that this picture is coming out so soon and no one really knew a thing about it.
It’s interesting to note that Brenda Chapman (the original director of "Brave") who worked on the project as a consultant. This is also the second animated feature from Industrial Light & Magic, with an assist from the Lucasfilm Animation Singapore animation branch (which handles work on the "Star Wars: Rebels" and previously did "Star Wars: The Clone Wars"). “Strange Magic” is also the feature debut of Gary Rydstrom, the talented sound man who directed a couple of brilliant shorts for Pixar (“Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation,” “Lifted”).
With a story and executive production from Lucas, with a screenplay by David Berenbaum (“Elf”), Mecchi (“Brave,” “The Lion King”) and Rydstrom, “Strange Magic” voice stars include Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio, newcomer
