French animator Benjamin Renner made his feature length debut back in 2012 as the co-director of the critically-acclaimed, 2D-animated feature Ernest & Celestine, an adaptation of Belgian author Gabrielle Vincent’s series of children’s novels. Now, the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker will turn his talents towards adapting a project of his own creation.
Cartoon Brew recently reported that Benjamin Renner will be adapting his graphic novel The Big Bad Wolf as a half-hour TV special. The project will be produced by Canal+ and StudioCanal for Didier Brunner’s Folivari production company. France’s Superights will act as distributor.
At an interview in Saltlake Magazine, Renner described the plot of the graphic novel and the TV special as being “about a fox who isn’t strong enough to catch and eat chickens. Instead, he gets beaten by the chickens. So, he has this weird idea where he’s going to steal eggs and he’s going to raise the small chickens, pretending he’s the mother, but one day, he’s going to eat them.”
Two more TV specials inspired by the graphic novel are also in development (A Baby to Deliver and A Perfect Christmas). Written and designed (but not directed) by Renner, A Baby to Deliver will revolve around “an idiot rabbit, a stupid duck, and a grumpy pig” who have to deliver a human baby to its parents after a delivery stork breaks its wing. In A Perfect Christmas, the rabbit and duck have to take on the role of Santa Claus after they become convinced that they accidentally killed him.
An animation test for The Big Bad Wolf was unveiled back in March. You can watch it here:
The quaint, watercolor-style 2D-animation will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s seen Ernest & Celestine. As such, this should prove to be a must-watch for fans of that style of animation.
As of current, there are no plans to distribute the specials in the US.
What do you think? If you enjoyed Ernest & Celestine, would you watch these specials?
Edited by: Kelly Conley
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