Alpha and Omega

[Foxtale]

I apologize if this has been posted before (or if this is the wrong place), but I just found out about this movie today and became very curious. Does anyone have any more information on it?

It says it was made by the company that took over the Swan Princess and the King and I, and is now owned by an Indian company?

"Alpha and Omega is a computer animated film produced by Crest Animation Productions and Richard Rich, director of The Fox and the Hound, and will be released by Lionsgate on October 1, 2010. The film is directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck, starring the voices of Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Christina Ricci and Dennis Hopper.

The movie focuses on two wolves; one male, Humphrey (Justin Long), and one female, Kate (Hayden Panettiere). The two are young when they are taken away by park rangers. Despite their differences, they begin to form a bond.

It is directed towards kids and family entertainment and will be shown in a 3-D film format. The CGI animation was done at Crest Animation Studios in Mumbai, India." -Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_and_Omega_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213012/

I'm fascinated to hear more about it. Is it going to be a direct to video release or a theatrical release? (if direct to video please move this thread ).

[James]

Theatrical from what I understand.

We recently posted what their next project will be:

http://animatedviews.com/2010/norm-up-n ... animation/

and Variety has a little more on the plot of that one:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118014561.html

If they're already plugging their next film like this I would expect we'll be getting more soon on their 2010 offering.

(BTW - with our recent forum upgrade we tweaked the topics -- so this is the correct thread for direct-to-video films!)

[Foxtale]

I guess they like the fuzzy cold weather creatures?

Thanks for the links James.

I hadn't heard about the film until yesterday when I saw some plush toys advertising the film and an accompanying poster.

I don't think I will necessarily be wanting to watch this film myself in its theatrical release but I know a bunch of my friends will. So far it sounds like a wait until video release for me. Its always refreshing to hear studios producing films outside of the major companies (although I would love it if they were 2D ).

(Also I love the new forum. Since I'm not around that much because I've been super busy I haven't gotten fully accustomed to the new topic delineations.)

[Meg]

Its always refreshing to hear studios producing films outside of the major companies.

Same here, though admittedly I'd rather see the indy studios take on more unique projects than the major players usually put out. I suppose the truly original stories don't sell as many plushies as the "two animals who hate each other but then become friends/fall in love" stories do. Ah well! Best of luck to this studio and their future projects.

[American_dog_2008]

I can't wait!

[Meg]

Here's the screencap of the movie Wikipedia has, but without the weird double-vision effect -

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jRJbywFM5FQ/S ... +Omega.jpg

Hmm...Something about this design is off-putting to me but I can't figure out what it is...

[Foxtale]

I can't tell what it is exactly. The design does look very strange. I couldn't figure out what it was either when I first saw it. Its just unsettling.

[James]

To be fair it looks like the character has been hit by a tranquilizer dart so the scene may be purposely unsettling to reflect the state of mind.

...but probably not!

[EricJ]

No, it's obviously in 3-D, just like...every other space-chimp loser who thought a cool-glasses engagement would put them in with the big boys.

(And while we'd wondered what happened to Rich all this time since vidquels and 90's 2-D wannabes disappeared...why should we not be surprised?
Is anyone dying of shock at the cheap videogame CGI, either?)

[Foxtale]

To be fair it looks like the character has been hit by a tranquilizer dart so the scene may be purposely unsettling to reflect the state of mind.

...but probably not!

I agree. My two guesses for the strange double image was they were either hit by a dart or this image was taken of a 3D film.

Aside from that I still think the characters look strange. In the other poster I saw there was something unsettling about their physical designs. From the only image I've seen its like a not as well funded video game... but maybe more images or a trailer might help change that.

[Meg]

No, it's obviously in 3-D, just like...every other space-chimp loser who thought a cool-glasses engagement would put them in with the big boys.

Actually I was referring to the design of the character, not the double-vision effect that was present in the Wikipedia image but not in the picture I posted. And I kind of doubt it really is a 3-D effect for a few reasons - one, it's purple and yellow, not the traditional green and red, and second, the green/red effect probably isn't even present in the film since it'll be digital 3-D (I'm assuming anyway). Besides, why would the studio want the first promotional image they release have the 3-D effect going on? Doesn't really make sense. Like James said it's probably just supposed to illustrate the woozy feeling the character who just got darted is going through.

But yes, judging from the still itself the CGI quality seems to be sub par...Shame the character design isn't better, because a strong, appealing design could have really lessened the impact of seeing lower quality animation than we're used to. Not big on the creepy 'human' eyes the character sports (something that every CGI character seems to have no matter the studio or species of the character...I don't really understand that trend), or the longer fur surrounding the head - it just looks too much like hair, which emphasizes the weird looking human characteristics of the face. I'm nitpicking, sure, but I have a deep interest in character design so I enjoy dissecting what works and what doesn't work in a design!

Also, Foxtale, where did you spot the poster you mentioned? A nice photo or if possible scan could probably make it on the front page, especially since I haven't seen it anywhere on the web yet.

[Foxtale]

I agree with you. I think they were trying to make the character look too much like human characters instead humanizing a wolf (if you can understand my twisted logic).

Sadly it was at the Toy Fair, I forgot to ask for permission to take a photo so I didn't take one. I decided to search for it online and found out that it wasn't released yet. Hopefully the poster I saw will be released soon, it featured the two main characters I assume.

[starlioness]

I hadn't heard about the film until yesterday when I saw some plush toys advertising the film and an accompanying poster.

Ooh, where'd ya see the plushies? Kinda early if it's not going to be out till october..

Say, what happened to the Legend of Muhammad? Rich worked on that too.. but I don't know if it ever got a region 1 dvd release.

since Rich also directed Fox and the Hound .. this story is vaguely similar..

[American_dog_2008]

It looks like The Flight Before Christmas meets Star Wars, until now!

[Wolf]

The trailer is out:

http://alphaandomega3d.com/

Not too bad but nothing amazing either.