Toonz Animation India plans to make a Computer Graphic Imagery (CGI) animated film on Santa Claus called The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus book by L. Frank Baum
Toon Animation India’s parent company Toonz Entertainment Pte Ltd will collaborate with Gang of 7 Animation and Hyde Park Entertainment to create The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.
The animation movie will be directed by Tom Tataranowicz, Rich Arons and Dick Sebast. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus will be scripted by Tom Tataranowicz and Mark Edward Edens. The production team will include artists who have earlier worked on films, such as Finding Nemo, The Lion King, and Iron Giant.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, Toonz Animation India’s first CGI movie, will be made at Toonz Animation India’s Thiruvananthapuram facility.
The company aims to release the movie on December 25, 2010.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is based on L Frank Baum’s 1902 book of the same name. The book tells the story of Santa Claus’ life, right from his birth in a forest, to how he is raised and educated by the Immortals of the forest, and his journey out of the forest to learn about fellow mortals.
Santa Claus lives in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho. He loves children and makes toys for them. This attracts the ire of the evil Awgwas who intercept the gifts, because the kids become good and behave themselves. Santa, therefore, has to deliver his gifts at night, and slithers through chimneys because he cannot enter the children’s houses at night.
The project is estimated to cost $12 billion, a majority of which will be borne by Toonz, said P Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Group.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus will go into production by end-November 2008.
The movie will be distributed by Hyde Park overseas, which will share rights to the North American region with G7 Animation.
Meanwhile, Toonz Animation India is working on a film based on the stories from Chandamama, in collaboration withChandamama India Ltd. Jayakmar said, “The animation major and Chandamama India Ltd will join hands in producing a full-length animated feature film based on a prime property from the library of Chandamama.”
The film will be produced in Toonz Animation India’s Technopark studio, in Thiruvananthapuram, at a cost of Rs 20 crore.