2014 was a surprisingly good year for animation with big surprises like The Lego Movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Big Hero 6 and much more! But 2015 is an even more anticipated year for animation and film in general. 2015 is upon us, which means it’s time to take a look at some of the highlights animation has to offer in this new year. Can it get any better than last year?
Strange Magic
Studio: Lucasfilm Animation
Release date: January 23, 2015
Lucas Film’s Strange Magic is the first animated film to release this year and at the same time it’s also my personal least anticipated release of the year. Disney officially announced the film about two months ago and now we know why they held off so long–it doesn’t look too good. While the film’s trailer has some pretty nice visuals, the trailer gives off too much of an Epic vibe, not to mention that the story seems unoriginal and the character designs are a bit bland. I’ll most likely won’t see this one in theaters and the odds are that I won’t see it at all.
Strange Magic is directed by former Pixarian Gary Rydstrom and features the voices of Maya Rudolph, Kristin Chenoweth, Evan Rachel Wood, Elijah Kelley and Alan Cumming.
Excitement level: 2/10
Official trailer:
”A fairy tale of goblins, fairies and imps meeting for the first time and the consequent confusions and conflicts the culture clash causes.”
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
Studio: Paramount Animation
Release date: February 6, 2015
After the success of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, SpongeBob and his friends are returning to the big screen, but this time computer animated in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. When I first saw the trailer for this new SpongeBob movie I was quite disappointed, SpongeBob is a 2D-animated cartoon and, personally, he should stay that way; however, the more I watched the trailer, the more the CG-animation started to grow on me. To be honest, not it actually looks pretty darn good; the animators have captured the spirit of the 2D characters wonderfully in CG and I’m really excited to see more of that in the movie. For all the die-hard SpongeBob fans out there who just want to see a classic 2D-animated SpongeBob movie, don’t worry! According to the film’s director, most of the film will actually be 2D animated.
The film’s 2D-animated scenes are directed by Paul Tibitt and Mike Mitchell directed the CGI/live-action hybrid scenes. The film features the voice talent of Tom Kenny, Bill Faggerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Carolyn Lawrence and Antonio Banderas as Burger-Beard.
Excitement level: 6/10
Official trailer:
”SpongeBob goes on a quest to discover a stolen recipe that takes him to our dimension, our world, where he tangles with a pirate.”
Home
Studio: DreamWorks Animation Studios
Release date: March 27, 2015
DreamWorks’ first (and presumably last) feature to release this year is Home. The film was originally planned to release last November, but it swapped release dates with Penguins of Madagascar to prevent competition with Disney’s Big Hero 6. The film is based off the beloved The True Meaning of Smekday novel by Adam Rex and it seems like fans of the book are highly anticipating this release. The film looks fun, colorful and definitely like something that could be the hit that DreamWorks desperately needs with family-friendly humor and a fun story for all ages.
Home is directed by Tim Johnson and features the voices of Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez and Steve Martin.
Excitement level: 7/10
Official trailer:
”When Earth is taken over by the overly confident Boov, an alien race in search of a new place to call home, all humans are promptly relocated while all Boov get busy reorganizing the planet. But when one resourceful girl, Tip, manages to avoid capture, she finds herself the accidental accomplice of a banished Boov named Oh. The two fugitives realize there’s a lot more at stake than intergalactic relations as they embark on the road trip of a lifetime.”
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Studio: Aardman Animations
Release date: April 24, 2015
Even without a feature film from LAIKA in 2015, we still have another stop-motion film to look forward to: Shaun the Sheep Movie by Aardman animation studios. Although I really love Aardman animation studios as well as Shaun the Sheep, I can’t say that I’m too excited to see this new feature featuring the character. From what I’ve seen in trailers, the film looks fun and definitely like something that I want to see eventually but just not in theaters. It simply doesn’t look that intriguing and it definitely doesn’t look like something you have to experience on the big screen.
The film is directed by Mark Burton and Richard Starzack and the film’s voice cast is currently unknown.
Excitement level: 6/10
Official trailer:
”When Shaun decides to take the day off and have some fun, he gets a little more action than he bargained for. A mix up with the Farmer, a caravan and a very steep hill lead them all to the Big City and it’s up to Shaun and the flock to return everyone safely to the green grass of home.”
Monster Trucks
Studio: Paramount Animation
Release date: May 29, 2015
Paramount Animation’s second animated feature to release this year is Monster Trucks, yet another CGI/Live-action hybrid film about cars. The film comes out in theaters less than five months from today and we don’t know anything about it except for the information above. While I’ve never been a big fan of CGI/live-action hybrid films, knowing that this is the studio that also made the new CGI/live-action hybrid SpongeBob film (that looks really good) is also making this movie gives me some hope that this might turn out to actually be quite a good film.
The film is directed by Chris Wedge and features the voice talent of Rob Lowe, Thomas Lennon, Jane Levy and Amy Ryan.
Excitement level: 4/10
Official trailer:
No trailer available.
The plot for this film is unknown.
Inside Out
Studio: Pixar Animation Studios
Release date: June 19, 2015
After taking a year off, Pixar is back with two original features planned for 2015. First off in June is Inside Out. Inside Out is an original feature that takes us inside the human mind. So far Pixar has released two teasers for the film that both looked very promising and original. While I still have my doubts about how this film’s story is going to work as a 90-minute feature, I’m sure that the geniuses at Pixar wrote a marvelous screenplay that’s going to surpass anything they’ve done before. Inside Out is not only one of my most anticipated releases of the yea,r but it was also voted Most Anticipated Release of 2015 by the readers of the website.
Inside Out is directed by Pete Doctor and features the voices of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader and Lewis Black.
Excitement level: 9.5/10
Official trailer:
”Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it’s no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley’s main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.”
Minions
Studio: Illumination Entertainment
Release date: July 10, 2015
Only less than a month after Pixar’s return, Illumination Entertainment is also back with a spin-off film about the beloved Minions from the immensely popular Despicable Me films, simply titled Minions. When the film first got announced it looked like a simple cash grab. Despicable Me 2 almost joined the billion dollar club and now that the Minions have become worldwide phenomenons, there couldn’t be a simpler way to earn some easy money; however, after actually seeing the film’s trailer, I have to agree that the film looks pretty darn good, which means that this film could turn out to be one of this summer’s biggest hits!
The film is directed by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin and features the voices of Sandra Bullock, Micheal Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan and Jon Hamm.
Excitement level: 8/10
Official trailer:
”Minions are yellow henchmen who have existed since the beginning of time, evolving from yellow single-celled organisms into beings who have only one purpose: to serve history’s most ambitious villains. After their ineptitude destroys all their masters, including a T. Rex, Genghis Khan and Dracula, they decide to isolate themselves from the world and start a new life in Antarctica.Sometime in the 1960s, the lack of a master drives them into depression, so Kevin, Stuart and Bob set out to find a new one.They arrive at a villain convention, where they compete for the right to be henchmen for Scarlet Overkill, a stylish and ambitious villain determined to dominate the world and become the first female super-villain.”
Hotel Transylvania 2
Studio: Sony Pictures Animation
Release date: September 25, 2015
In late September the Hotel Transylvania gang is also back with a sequel to the 2012 hit film. Except for some stills released a while ago and the announcement that Mel Brooks is joining the voice cast as Dracula’s father, Vlad, we don’t know much about this film yet. Personally I don’t think a sequel was really necessarily since the original Hotel Transylvania wasn’t that great of a movie in my opinion–it had amazing animation, but a very weak story. But thinking of the wonderful animation in the original Hotel Transylvania and knowing that Mel Brooks is joining the sequel’s voice cast as Dracula’s father makes me at least a little bit more excited to check this film out.
Hotel Transylvania 2 is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky and features the voices of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Kevin James and Mel Brooks as Vlad.
Excitement level: 5.5/10
Official trailer:
No trailer available.
The plot for this film is unknown.
The Peanuts Movie
Studio: Blue Sky Studios
Release date: November 6, 2015
To be honest, I never grew up watching the Peanuts specials on TV and I just barely watched A Charlie Brown Christmas for the first time ever last year. For that reason I don’t have the nostalgia that many of you do watching the trailers for this film; however, I really do like what I’m seeing. I’m glad to see that many lifelong Peanuts fans agree with me that this movie actually looks really fantastic. I’m also always very happy to see animation studios experimenting with new animation styles and trying out new things. I loved Paperman‘s technique, it worked perfectly on The Book of Life and it looks like Blue Sky Studios got the classic 2D Peanuts feeling down using only computer animation. I think the film looks really good and I truly hope that lifelong Peanuts fans will enjoy it as much as I most likely will.
The Peanuts Movie is directed by Steve Martino and features the voices of Noah Schnapp, Mariel Sheets, Hadley Belle Miller and Bill Melendez as Snoopy.
Excitement level: 8.5/10
Official trailer:
”Snoopy embarks upon his greatest mission as he and his team take to the skies to pursue their arch-nemesis, while his best pal Charlie Brown begins his own epic quest back home.”
The Good Dinosaur
Studio: Pixar Animation Studios
Release date: November 25, 2015
Pixar’s second and this year’s final animated film to release is The Good Dinosaur. Although the film has had a troubled production with a director switch, major story changes and a delay, it looks like Pixar is back on track and the film is making great progression. I personally can’t wait to see this film and that’s also why it’s one of my personal most anticipated release of the year. While we don’t know much about the film yet except for the promising premise, I can feel that this is going to be a fun, touching and visually stunning adventure that was totally worth the wait.
This film is directed by Peter Sohn and features the voices of Lucas Neff, Bill Hader, Judy Greer, Neil Patrick Harris, John Lithgow and Francis McDormand.
Excitement level: 9.5/10
Official trailer:
No trailer available.
”The Good Dinosaur asks the generations-old question: What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? The film is a humorous and exciting original story about Arlo, a lively 70-foot-tall teenage Apatosaurus with a big heart. After a traumatic event rattles Arlo’s tranquil community, he sets out on a quest to restore peace, gaining an unlikely companion along the way—a young human boy named Spot.”
Ratchet & Clank
Studio: Rainmaker Entertainment and Blockade Entertainment
Release date: Early 2015
Now Ratchet & Clank is an interesting one. Despite supposedly being released in early 2015, we know very little about this movie (much like Strange Magic). In early 2014, we got a teaser trailer, which basically focused on the fact that the trailer “didn’t have anything.” That being said, the teaser trailer did feature some funny moments between the film’s titular characters. The film is based on a PlayStation franchise of the same name and the plot will be an origin story similar to that found in the original game. Video-game film adaptations haven’t faired too well overall, but hopefully having one be animated can break that trend.
Excitement level: 5.5/10
Official trailer:
“Ratchet and Clank tells the story of two unlikely heroes as they struggle to stop a vile alien named Chairman Drek from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy. Ratchet is the last of his kind – a foolhardy ‘lombax’ who has grown up alone on a backwater planet with no family of his own. Clank is a pint-sized robot with more brains than brawn. When the two stumble upon a dangerous weapon capable of destroying entire planets, they must join forces with a team of colorful heroes called The Galactic Rangers in order to save the galaxy. Along the way they’ll learn about heroism, friendship, and the importance of discovering one’s own identity.”
The Little Prince
Studio: Onyx Films
Release date: 2015
While The Little Prince has already been released in France, here in the US, we’re eagerly anticipating its worldwide release. The reason? It looks simply stunning. The trailer, for one, gives me goosebumps. The character design of the characters in the “real world” reminds me very much of Pixar characters; the characters design in the “story world” is astounding–as if the characters are created out of paper sculptures. Also, the animation in both worlds is beautiful, particularly the story world where it is new and stop motion-esque. When watching this trailer, you feel something, which is a great sign. Hopefully we get a release date soon!
Excitement level: 7/10
Official trailer:
This is the story of a story. This is the story of a little girl, fearless and curious, who lives in a world of adults. This is the story of an aviator, eccentric and mischievous, who never really grew up. This is the story of the Little Prince that will bring them together in an extraordinary adventure.
So there you have it–the 2015 animation calendar. When more news about these films pops up, you better be sure that we’ll report it and keep you up to date on everything. The entire Rotoscopers team wishes you a Happy New Year and we hope 2015 is going to be a great year for animation!
What is your personal most and least anticipated release of 2015? Let us know in the comments!