If you believe that snacks on the whole don’t encompass more of the creative human experience, then fear not, because Blue Dream Studios and Storyoscopic Films are producing an animated version of Animal Crackers! Directing the children’s flick are Scott Christian Sava and Tony Bancroft, based on a script co-written by Sava and Dean Lorey.
Deep in production, the film “follows a family whose life is turned upside down when they inherit a rundown circus and a mysterious box of Animal Crackers, which magically change the person who eats them into the animal they have eaten — including monkeys, giraffes, lions, tigers and bears.”
It’s a cute idea that’d be even cuter if it wasn’t such a blatant merchandising tie-in. However, cynicism aside, with a very impressive list of actors providing the vocal stylings for that array of beasties – it could be quite good fun. Already lined-up for a stint in the vocal booth are Patrick Warburton, Gilbert Gottfried, Raven-Symoné, Harvey Fierstein, James Arnold Taylor, Tara Strong and Lydia Taylor.
Today’s news further fleshes out the acting talent slated to lend their unmistakable tones to the family-friendly caper. Action nut Sylvester Stallone, comedy quipster Danny DeVito and the legendary Sir Ian McKellen are all on board. You can only assume that the script’s pretty sharp for McKellen to be involved. Bagging such a triptych of unique voices came as a massive win for writer-director Sava, whose response to the news was rather excitable:
“When I was writing ‘Animal Crackers’ I had specific voices in my head. Certain characters I wrote with actors in mind. Horatio was always Sir Ian McKellen. Brock was totally Patrick Warburton. Bullet-Man could be no one else but Stallone! To find out that each and every one of these actors have agreed to come on board this film and bring these characters to life… I’m flipping out.”
Animal Crackers is currently in production, and is scheduled to wrap in mid-2016.
