Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Goodbye to "Cinder Biter."

This morning we got a cryptic phone call* about this:

The crew on Henry Selick’s untitled stop motion animated film were told this afternoon that Disney is not proceeding with this project. Though the film had no title, it had a October 4, 2013 release date, and about 150 San Francisco-based artists ready to go, so it’s a blow to the animation troops out there. Started shooting last summer, but I’d heard it just wasn’t coming together in a manner that pleased the studio. Selick has been given the chance to take the project ...

I journeyed up to the shoot several weeks ago, and things appeared to be going well.

The project was happening in the industrial/warehouse section of San Francisco, and the crew was "up" and engaged. I have no idea why Henry's project was shut down so deep into production, but some person in a higher level of authority must have seen dailies and said: "Ahhh. No."

Whatever the actual reason, we're saddened to see so many animation professionals lose their jobs off a feature that appeared to be in full flight. Here's hoping that Mr. Selick sets the feature up someplace else and folks can continue working.

* Disney contacted the IA this morning regarding the impending shutdown. We, naturally enough, kept it under our hats. But we speculated: "When will Deadline Hollywood break this?" Now we know.

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