We’ve heard about it for a while… We knew it was coming… Yes, the animated feature-length film based on Rovio’s massive franchise – Angry Birds. It was definitely a go for years, even if the popularity of the franchise might not be as high as it is now by the time the film comes out.
Now, Coming Soon has confirmed that Sony Pictures will be distributing the Rovio-produced feature film to cinemas all around the world on July 1, 2016. For a while, only two films were definitely scheduled for release in 2016, both of which were DreamWorks releases. Now Angry Birds joins the line-up, and soon we’ll hear more from the other studios on what’s coming out that year. Two people are also currently attached to the project: John Cohen (producer of Illumination’s hugely successful Despicable Me) and David Maisel (executive producer of the first five Marvel Cinematic Universe films). Yeah, you know the people behind this are gung ho about it!
Now Rovio may be the production company behind the film, but is it possible that Sony Pictures Animation might join forces with them to make the film? Or at least get some form of credit? The studio co-produced (according to IMDb) Aardman’s computer animated Arthur Christmas and “presented” their claymation feature The Pirates! Band of Misfits. The Culver City-based studio also currently has no projects slated for release in 2016 at the moment.
Anyways, Angry Birds will finally be flying to theaters in a matter of three years… Though some might see it as another cheap Hollywood attempt to cash in on a recently successful franchise, we all know one thing: It’s going to make big bucks, and it will be interesting to see how the film performs at the box office. An animated film based on a very huge app/franchise could surprise in terms of the performance.
What’s your take? Are you anticipating an Angry Birds feature-length film? Or do you think it’s totally unnecessary? Sound off!