DREAMWORKS TO UNLEASH ANIMATED `ANTZ' EARLY.Byline: Daily News Wire Services In an unexpected move, DreamWorks SKG SKG Stichting Kwaliteit Gevelbouw (Dutch) SKG Spielberg, Katzenberg,and Geffen (DreamWorks Studios) SKG Thessaloniki, Greece - Thessaloniki (Airport Code) SKG Smith and Kraus Global has advanced the release of its new animated film, ``Antz,'' from next March to this October to gain a foothold on the fall and early winter season. The high-profile company, founded by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, had announced that its first animated film would be ``Prince of Egypt,'' a retelling re·tell·ing n. A new account or an adaptation of a story: a retelling of a Roman myth. of the Moses story, set to open Dec. 18. That film has stirred extraordinary attention in Hollywood, partly because it is viewed as Katzenberg's personal creation after making some hugely successful animated movies at Walt Disney Co., where he was studio chairman. Those films included ``Beauty and the Beast Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale (type 425C -- search for a lost husband -- in the Aarne-Thompson classification). The first published version of the fairy tale was a meandering rendition by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in ,'' ``Aladdin'' and ``The Lion King.'' ``Prince of Egypt,'' with voices by Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Steve Martin, Helen Mirren, Michelle Pfeiffer and others, was viewed as a challenge to Disney's hegemony in animation. But exhibitor sources said that the DreamWorks partners, after strong positive test-audience reaction to ``Antz,'' had asked Pacific Data Images Pacific Data Images was a computer animation production company that was bought by DreamWorks SKG. It is now known as PDI/DreamWorks and is half of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., the public company formed by merging PDI and the feature animation division of DreamWorks. , which is creating the film, to accelerate its production and release the movie Oct. 2. The new opening date comes at a relatively quiet time in movie theaters and beats by six weeks the release of a Disney animated film, ``A Bug's Life,'' made by Pixar, set to open Nov 20. The DreamWorks film, about rebellious ants in New York's Central Park, includes the voices of Danny Glover, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman and Jennifer Lopez, and of Woody Allen, as a - what else? - very neurotic ant in therapy. Cage-y `Wolf'?: Nicolas Cage is in preliminary talks to team with Ron Howard on ``The Sea Wolf,'' an adaptation of the Jack London novel. Sources said Cage would like to make the film next summer after completing Martin Scorsese's ``Bringing Out the Dead Bringing Out the Dead is a 1999 English language motion picture. It is a dark drama about paramedics shot mostly at night in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan a neighborhood in New York City, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Nicolas Cage, Ving Rhames, John Goodman, and Tom .'' He has been seeking an action picture to star in since committing to ``Dead,'' based on the book by Joseph Connelly about a paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic in Hell's Kitchen who has a nervous breakdown nervous breakdown n. A severe or incapacitating emotional disorder, especially when occurring suddenly and marked by depression. nervous breakdown and starts to get visions of the people he has watched die. While Howard is not firmly committed to the project, he has been seriously eyeing ``Wolf,'' adapted by ``Jurassic Park'' scribe David Koepp. The book has been filmed several times, including, most notably, a 1941 version starring Edward G. Robinson as the bloodthirsty blood·thirst·y adj. 1. Eager to shed blood. 2. Characterized by great carnage. blood sea captain who rescues the survivors of a commercial ship. |
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