As calls for diversity and gender parity in entertainment are reshaping the industry, animation continues to promote and represent women in game-changing roles, for executives and creative leaders.
Jennifer Lee leads Walt Disney Animation Studios. Kristine Belson runs Sony Animation. Karen Toliver heads Netflix’s toon arm. Ramsey Naito oversees Nickelodeon. Margie Cohn tops DreamWorks. And of course there are a many more.
“I think it was initially maybe 10 or 15 years ago, it was an area where women could get into a leadership role, somewhere on the ladder of say series production as a production executive, or studio executive in a junior way,” says Meredith Roberts, executive vice president, TV animation, Disney branded television.
“Over time they’ve had success and they’ve climbed the ladder and become much higher caliber, top producers, a senior studio level people, and along the way, because they were afforded those opportunities, they’ve...
Jennifer Lee leads Walt Disney Animation Studios. Kristine Belson runs Sony Animation. Karen Toliver heads Netflix’s toon arm. Ramsey Naito oversees Nickelodeon. Margie Cohn tops DreamWorks. And of course there are a many more.
“I think it was initially maybe 10 or 15 years ago, it was an area where women could get into a leadership role, somewhere on the ladder of say series production as a production executive, or studio executive in a junior way,” says Meredith Roberts, executive vice president, TV animation, Disney branded television.
“Over time they’ve had success and they’ve climbed the ladder and become much higher caliber, top producers, a senior studio level people, and along the way, because they were afforded those opportunities, they’ve...
- 12/5/2022
- by Karen Idelson
- Variety Film + TV
This Summer, Take The Ride Of A Lifetime! From The Studio That Brought You How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Dreamworks Animation Presents Spirit Untamed. Rated PG. Adventure Awaits In Theaters June 4th!
An epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse, Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in the beloved story from DreamWorks Animation.
Lucky Prescott never really knew her late mother, Milagro Navarro, a fearless horse-riding stunt performer from Miradero, a small town on the edge of the wide-open frontier.
Like her mother, Lucky isn’t exactly a fan of rules and restrictions, which has caused her Aunt Cora (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore) no small amount of worry. Lucky has grown up in an East Coast city under Cora’s watchful eye, but when Lucky presses her own...
An epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse, Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in the beloved story from DreamWorks Animation.
Lucky Prescott never really knew her late mother, Milagro Navarro, a fearless horse-riding stunt performer from Miradero, a small town on the edge of the wide-open frontier.
Like her mother, Lucky isn’t exactly a fan of rules and restrictions, which has caused her Aunt Cora (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore) no small amount of worry. Lucky has grown up in an East Coast city under Cora’s watchful eye, but when Lucky presses her own...
- 6/2/2021
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Festival helped attract audiences back to cinemas for first time.
Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida? picked up the top international prize at a Facebook Live virtual ceremony on Sunday evening (March 14) as this year’s Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival drew to a close.
Žbanić’s film walked away with the $25,000 Knight Marimbas Award, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the event’s international competition strand for new narrative feature films that best exemplify richness and resonance for cinema’s future.
Marking its North American debut, Žbanić’s multi Bafta-nominated and Oscar long-listed...
Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida? picked up the top international prize at a Facebook Live virtual ceremony on Sunday evening (March 14) as this year’s Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival drew to a close.
Žbanić’s film walked away with the $25,000 Knight Marimbas Award, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the event’s international competition strand for new narrative feature films that best exemplify richness and resonance for cinema’s future.
Marking its North American debut, Žbanić’s multi Bafta-nominated and Oscar long-listed...
- 3/14/2021
- by Stuart Kemp
- ScreenDaily
Universal and DreamWorks’ animated “Spirit Untamed” has added Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, Isabela Merced and more to its voice cast.
“Spirit Untamed” is the follow-up to the 2002 Oscar-nominated “Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron.” And rounding out the voice cast are Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Andre Braugher, Walton Goggins and Eiza González.
Elaine Bogan directs the film, which is an epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse.
Karen Foster is the producer, and the film’s co-director is Ennio Torresan. The original score is by composer and Universal Composers Initiative alum Amie Doherty.
Merced, who broke out as the live-action Dora the Explorer in “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” will play the lead role of Lucky Prescott, while Gonzalez plays her mother, a horse trainer and stunt performer, and Gyllenhaal plays her father.
“Spirit Untamed” is the follow-up to the 2002 Oscar-nominated “Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron.” And rounding out the voice cast are Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Andre Braugher, Walton Goggins and Eiza González.
Elaine Bogan directs the film, which is an epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse.
Karen Foster is the producer, and the film’s co-director is Ennio Torresan. The original score is by composer and Universal Composers Initiative alum Amie Doherty.
Merced, who broke out as the live-action Dora the Explorer in “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” will play the lead role of Lucky Prescott, while Gonzalez plays her mother, a horse trainer and stunt performer, and Gyllenhaal plays her father.
- 3/12/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
“Marry Me,” the romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson and Latin pop star Maluma, has been bumped from its Valentine’s Day release to the summer of 2021.
“Marry Me” will hit theaters May 14, 2021, after first being slated for February 12. And it will take the place of “Spirit Untamed,” an animated follow-up to the horse family movie “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.” That film is now moving back a month and will open in theaters June 4, 2021.
While it’s not necessarily a sign of things to come, it is an instance of a studio moving a theatrical release not just out of Q4 of 2020 but even out of the first quarter of next year as well. Though on that weekend in February alone, studios are also releasing Paramount’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” Sony Pictures Classics’ “French Exit” and 20th Century Studios’ “The King’s Man.”
“Marry Me” is...
“Marry Me” will hit theaters May 14, 2021, after first being slated for February 12. And it will take the place of “Spirit Untamed,” an animated follow-up to the horse family movie “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.” That film is now moving back a month and will open in theaters June 4, 2021.
While it’s not necessarily a sign of things to come, it is an instance of a studio moving a theatrical release not just out of Q4 of 2020 but even out of the first quarter of next year as well. Though on that weekend in February alone, studios are also releasing Paramount’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” Sony Pictures Classics’ “French Exit” and 20th Century Studios’ “The King’s Man.”
“Marry Me” is...
- 11/10/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Universal Pictures’ Jennifer Lopez music fueled romantic comedy Marry Me is moving from Presidents Day-Valentine’s Day weekend on the theatrical release calendar next year, Feb. 12 and going to May 14, 2021.
Marry Me will take the place of DreamWorks Animation’s Untitled Spirit Riding Free movie which has now been title Spirit Untamed. That animated pic will now open on June 4, 2021.
This is one of Lopez and Wilson’s highest tested features, I hear, and Universal wants to make an event out of this, at an opportune time on the calendar.
Still, with Wonder Woman 1984 expected to move, and the holiday release schedule in meltdown as we wait out the coronavirus, we can expect more 1Q 2021 theatrical releases to further shift in the future.
Marry Me leaves behind a weekend that has Disney/20th Century Studios’ The King’s Man prequel and Paramount’s untitled Lee Daniels’ Billie Holiday movie on Feb.
Marry Me will take the place of DreamWorks Animation’s Untitled Spirit Riding Free movie which has now been title Spirit Untamed. That animated pic will now open on June 4, 2021.
This is one of Lopez and Wilson’s highest tested features, I hear, and Universal wants to make an event out of this, at an opportune time on the calendar.
Still, with Wonder Woman 1984 expected to move, and the holiday release schedule in meltdown as we wait out the coronavirus, we can expect more 1Q 2021 theatrical releases to further shift in the future.
Marry Me leaves behind a weekend that has Disney/20th Century Studios’ The King’s Man prequel and Paramount’s untitled Lee Daniels’ Billie Holiday movie on Feb.
- 11/10/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Members of the U.S. animation community have teamed up to publish The Art of Voting, a collection of original artwork and essays by 93 illustrators, production designers, showrunners, writers and activists to encourage people to vote this November. The book was put together entirely by volunteers and all proceeds go to Fair Fight, an organization founded by Stacey Abrams to promote fair elections and voter participation.
The project was sponsored by Illumination head Chris Melendandri, Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson, Illumination executive producer Latifa Ouaou, and Dreamworks Animation producer Karen Foster, and published by the Bric Foundation, whose founder and ...
The project was sponsored by Illumination head Chris Melendandri, Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson, Illumination executive producer Latifa Ouaou, and Dreamworks Animation producer Karen Foster, and published by the Bric Foundation, whose founder and ...
- 10/12/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Members of the U.S. animation community have teamed up to publish The Art of Voting, a collection of original artwork and essays by 93 illustrators, production designers, showrunners, writers and activists to encourage people to vote this November. The book was put together entirely by volunteers and all proceeds go to Fair Fight, an organization founded by Stacey Abrams to promote fair elections and voter participation.
The project was sponsored by Illumination head Chris Melendandri, Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson, Illumination executive producer Latifa Ouaou, and Dreamworks Animation producer Karen Foster, and published by the Bric Foundation, whose founder and ...
The project was sponsored by Illumination head Chris Melendandri, Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson, Illumination executive producer Latifa Ouaou, and Dreamworks Animation producer Karen Foster, and published by the Bric Foundation, whose founder and ...
- 10/12/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
DreamWorks Animation has added two more feature toons to its 2021 slate, the Untitled Spirit Riding Free movie based on its Netflix series on May 14, and The Bad Guys on September 17 based on Aaron Blabey’s bestselling Scholastic book series. This raises the Glendale studio’s release count for that year to three titles, the other being The Boss Baby 2 on March 26, 2021. Spooky Jack, previously dated for September 17, 2021, is now unset. The global distribution of Dwa titles is overseen by Universal.
Spirit Riding Free‘s origins go back to the 2002 Oscar-nominated movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron ($122.5M global box office). In 2017, that feature was reimagined by DreamWorks Animation Television as a Netflix original series, Spirit Riding Free, thus igniting interest in the IP among a new generation of young girls.
The new pic will follow headstrong Lucky Prescott, who is forced to move from her big-city home to a small frontier town,...
Spirit Riding Free‘s origins go back to the 2002 Oscar-nominated movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron ($122.5M global box office). In 2017, that feature was reimagined by DreamWorks Animation Television as a Netflix original series, Spirit Riding Free, thus igniting interest in the IP among a new generation of young girls.
The new pic will follow headstrong Lucky Prescott, who is forced to move from her big-city home to a small frontier town,...
- 10/7/2019
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Universal and DreamWorks Animation announced two new animated films for theatrical release in 2021.
“Spirit Riding Free” will arrive on the big screen on May 14, 2021, while “The Bad Guys” is set to debut on Sept. 17, 2021. The latter will replace “Spooky Jack,” a cartoon from the Universal-owned Blumhouse that the studio took off its release calendar.
The still-untitled “Spirit Riding Free” is based on the DreamWorks Animation Television series on Netflix, which itself was inspired by the 2002 Oscar-nominated film “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.” The animated adventure continues the story about an unbreakable bond between a girl and her wild horse. The Netflix series consists of 52 episodes so far with more content on the way this fall and in 2020. Elaine Bogan is directing the film and “How to Train Your Dragon” co-producer Karen Foster will produce.
“The Bad Guys,” adapted from Aaron Blabey’s best-selling book series, centers on legendary heist masterminds who,...
“Spirit Riding Free” will arrive on the big screen on May 14, 2021, while “The Bad Guys” is set to debut on Sept. 17, 2021. The latter will replace “Spooky Jack,” a cartoon from the Universal-owned Blumhouse that the studio took off its release calendar.
The still-untitled “Spirit Riding Free” is based on the DreamWorks Animation Television series on Netflix, which itself was inspired by the 2002 Oscar-nominated film “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.” The animated adventure continues the story about an unbreakable bond between a girl and her wild horse. The Netflix series consists of 52 episodes so far with more content on the way this fall and in 2020. Elaine Bogan is directing the film and “How to Train Your Dragon” co-producer Karen Foster will produce.
“The Bad Guys,” adapted from Aaron Blabey’s best-selling book series, centers on legendary heist masterminds who,...
- 10/7/2019
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures are in the works on animated films based on the TV series “Spirit Riding Free” and “The Bad Guys” book series, both of which are set to be released in 2021, the studios announced on Monday.
The untitled “Spirit Riding Free” film, based on the Netflix original series from DreamWorks Animation Television, will open wide on May 14, 2021. “The Bad Guys,” based on the 10-book children’s series from author Aaron Blabey, will open on Sept. 17, 2021.
“The Bad Guys” will take the spot of “Spooky Jack,” a collaboration between DreamWorks and Blumhouse, which is now unset.
Also Read: All 36 DreamWorks Animation Movies Ranked From Worst to Best (Photos)
“Spirit Riding Free” follows the unbreakable bond between a free-spirited girl and her wild stallion companion. The show has run for 52 episodes since May 2017, all of which are available on Netflix, and more episodes and content are on the...
The untitled “Spirit Riding Free” film, based on the Netflix original series from DreamWorks Animation Television, will open wide on May 14, 2021. “The Bad Guys,” based on the 10-book children’s series from author Aaron Blabey, will open on Sept. 17, 2021.
“The Bad Guys” will take the spot of “Spooky Jack,” a collaboration between DreamWorks and Blumhouse, which is now unset.
Also Read: All 36 DreamWorks Animation Movies Ranked From Worst to Best (Photos)
“Spirit Riding Free” follows the unbreakable bond between a free-spirited girl and her wild stallion companion. The show has run for 52 episodes since May 2017, all of which are available on Netflix, and more episodes and content are on the...
- 10/7/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
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