Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Reynolds (Finding Nemo) has been hired to write an untitled animated feature film based on an original story by animation veteran Stephan Franck (The Iron Giant, Despicable Me) who will also direct. The Gotham Groups Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Peter McHugh and Eric Robinson, and Academy Award winner Karen Dufilho-Rosen (Geri’s Game, For the Birds) will executive produce. The film is the first in a four picture, first-look deal that Gotham signed with Sony Pictures Animation in 2009.
“We are thrilled and excited to be making a movie at Sony Pictures Animation with Stephan Franck directing and David Reynolds, one of the funniest writers in the business,” said Ellen Goldsmith-Vein.
Reynolds’ Finding Nemo screenplay received Oscar and BAFTA nominations and won an Annie Award. His other notible credits include Chicken Little, A Bugs Life, The Emperor’s New Groove, Mulan, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Fantasia/2000, Tarzan, and Toy Story 2 & 3.
A veteran animator and writer, French-born Stephan Franck was Supervising Animator on The Iron Giant, a key story contributor to Despicable Me, and co-creator (with brother Emmanuel Franck) of the multi-award-winning international hit animated TV series “Corneil and Bernie” (Millimages/BBC).
Alexa Amin, vice president of development for Sony Pictures Animation, is overseeing the production for the studio.
