New Line Plants Flag on 'Planet 51'

Will Ilion steal a bit of Pixar thunder?

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, November 27th 2007 at 10:33 AM

First off, the answer to that teaser question is no, so let's move on and discuss the little animation film New Line just acquired, a film that happens to be New Line's first soiree into the field of animation in its 40-year history.

The film is called Planet 51 and it was acquired from Handmade Films International. The $60 million animation was made at Ilion Animation Studios and directed by Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad and Marcos Martinez. Ilion set up shop in Spain five years ago to begin developing Planet 51 where it developed its own animation technology in-house.

Planet 51 was written by Joe Stillman (Shrek) and is described as a funny reverse alien invasion story centered on the little green people with antennas who inhabit Planet 51, and who live in fear of being invaded by beings from another planet.

When Astronaut Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker lands his spaceship, thinking that the no-one lives there, the inhabitants’ paranoia is unleashed and the real adventure begins. Lem, a young resident on Planet 51, who is fascinated by space the world outside, will help Chuck try to escape from the authorities, recover his spaceship and return home.

The film is currently in production and set to be completed March 2009. New Line is currently searching for voice talent and plans on releasing it in 2009 as well with a major marketing and film tie-in push.

I have added four pics from the film in the gallery here.