Disney and Lucasfilm announced their first theatrical project that doesn’t have anything to do with Star Wars. The animated musical, Strange Magic, will hit theaters in January.
Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars creator George Lucas wrote the story and picked Gary Rydstrom to direct. Rydstrom is a Pixar vet, having worked on Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation and Lifted. The screenplay was written by Elf’s David Berenbaum, Brave’s Irene Mecchi and Rydstrom.
The story is based on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and will feature pop songs from the past six decades to tell a story involving elves, fairies, imps and goblins. It was animated by Lucasfilm Animation Singapore with Industrial Light & Magic.
The voice cast is headlined by Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Maya Rudolph, Kristin Chenoweth and Sam Palladio. Also contributing voices are Alfred Molina, Elijah Kelley, Bob Einstein, Peter Stormare and newcomer Meredith Anne Bull.
Marius de Vries, who worked on the Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!, will be the musical director and composer.
Strange Magic must be very close to completion since it will be released by Disney’s Touchstone label on Jan. 23, 2015. However, there were no reports on the project before today.
Disney and Lucasfilm’s first Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, opens in December 2015.
image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com