Sony’s ‘Angry Birds’ movie to be directed by animation veterans

Sony has hired two animation veterans to direct its Angry Birds movie, which will not be released until 2016.

Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly will co-direct the film, according to Deadline, which first reported the news.

Kaytis is a 19-year veteran of Disney and recently worked on Tangled as animation supervisor; Wreck-It Ralph as animator; and the upcoming Frozen. Reilly, on the other hand, has been with Sony since 2003 and was a storyboard artist on Hotel Transylvania and both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films. He also heads the studio’s story department.

“I’m very excited that Fergal and Clay have joined us, bringing with them their vast expertise,” Rovio CEO Mikael Hed told Deadline.

Back in May, Rovio, which produced the mobile game that the film will be based on, and Sony announced that the film will be released on July 1, 2016. John Cohen (Despicable Me) and David Maisel (Iron Man) are producing. According to TheWrap, Jon Vitti penned the script.

Sony Animation just had a hit with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which has grossed $62 million domestically since its Sept. 27 release. The key for Angry Birds will be if the game can continue to be popular for another three years before the film is finally released.

image: Wikimedia Commons