Another Animation in the Works by the Creators of 'Despicable Me'
Remember those minions from ''Despicable Me?'' The animation studio who brought these lovable creatures to life is now in the works to create another animated movie and, no, this is not a sequel.
Illumination Entertainment, a Universal-based animation studio behind last year's hit animation "Despicable Me" and this year's "Hop," are now working on a film featuring the classic Woody Woodpecker.
Introduced in 1940 in the animated short "Knock Knock," Woody has been a favorite ever since. The maniacal bird was co-created by Walter Lantz and Ben Hardaway. Woody was voiced by the famous Mel Blanc before he moved to exclusively work alongside Leon Schlesinger Productions, now known as the Warner Brother Cartoons. In the majority of the animation's run, Woody was then voiced by Grace Stafford, Lantz's wife.
In 1985, Woody was sold off to MCA/Universal where it was repackaged and turned into an all new show, "The New Woody Woodpecker Show," which ran on FOX Kids from 1999 to 2002.
Now with writers John Altschuler and David Krinsky, co-writers of the movie "Blades of Glory," they are hoping to recreate and modernize the brazen bird. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Illumination Studio aims to revive the franchise with the movie and in with modernizing Woody they may find a newer way to exploit Woody's story.
Talk about reincarnating a classic. If the movie is indeed in the works then it would definitely be best if they ditch the annoying Woody Woodpecker laugh. It may be a patented trademark of the franchise, but think of all the classics turned into movies. "Yogi Bear" and "The Flintstones" surely did not bring anything new to the table nor scored box office hits.
With Illumination Studio still working on their next year's movie, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," moviegoers are in doubt if Woody Woodpecker is worth the wait.
Maybe they should stick with the Minions instead and focus on a sequel to the lovable yellow goofball goons.