Hugh Jackmanwaspoised to get back to his musical and ancestral roots in the animated Australia-set musicalLarrikins, but now it appears that won’t be happening after all. DreamWorks Animation began working on a musical calledLarrikinsback in 2011, hiringTim Minchin—the composer and lyricist behind the Broadway musicalMatilda the Musical—to write new songs in 2013. He was upped to director in 2014, withShrek the ThirdandPuss in BootshelmerChris Millerjoining him as co-director later, but now with less than a year to go before release, DreamWorks Animation has cancelledLarrikinsaltogether.
Minchin broke the news onhis official blog(viaCartoon Brew) with the following statement:
Hi everyone.
I’ve recently been working in 3 different continents, missing my kids a lot, sleeping too little and not playing piano enough.
And then a couple of days ago, the animated film to which I’ve dedicated the last 4 years of my life was shut down by the new studio execs.
The only way I know how to deal with my impotent fury and sadness is to subject members of the public to the spectacle of me getting drunk and playing ballads.
I suspect I won’t be very funny, I won’t be doing any stand-up, and I might act a bit bitter and spoilt. On the upside, the tickets are as cheap as I could make them, and I might be tempted to buy a round.
Come and drink with me, my friends, and we’ll see what happens.
The new execs he’s referring to are NBCUniversal, asJeffrey Katzenbergsold the animation company to Universal last year.Chris Meledandri, head of Universal-owned Illumination Entertainment (the studio behindMinions,Despicable Me, andSecret Life of Pets), didn’t take a formal role with DreamWorks Animation but was said to be consulting on “the most effective path forward”, while former president of animation at Warner Bros.Chris DeFariawas installed in the new position of president of the DreamWorks Feature Animation Group.Bonnie Arnoldremains as the president of Feature Animation, whileMargie Cohnis still in charge of Animation TV.
All of this to say, things are different at DreamWorks Animation now, and as DeFaria and the Universal team began to look at the slate, it appears they decidedLarrikinswasn’t worth continuing—even as the film was set for release in February 2018.
Jackman was joined in the voice cast byMargot Robbie,Naomi Watts,Rose Byrne, andBen Mendelsohn, and the story was described as a genuine musical road movie that was a mix ofStar WarsandGods Must Be Crazy.
It’s a shame the project was cancelled so swiftly, and this puts the rest of DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming slate in doubt. The studio has struggled for quite some time to find its place in the animation world, with misses likeHomeandMr. Peabody & Shermanoutweighing the hits likeHow to Train Your DragonandKung Fu Panda. They had a much-needed hit this past fall withTrollsand are already working on a sequel, so it’s possible they simply decided they didn’t need two musicals in the works.
DreamWorks Animation has flirted in the past with auteur-driven films, withDean DeBloisreally serving as the true creative head of everyHow to Train Your Dragonfilm. ButRise of the Guardians, which hadGuillermo del Toroinvolved as a producer, was a pricey misfire and they retreated to more familiar territory. This March’sThe Boss Babylooks about as generic as you can get, and while there are promising films in the works like theEdgar Wright-helmedShadowsor the long-delayedB.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations, it’s unclear if those films will be scrapped under the new Universal leadership.
2017 brings us the aforementionedThe Boss BabyandCaptain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, whileHow to Train Your Dragon 3is set for release in March 2019 and the just-announcedTrolls 2will hit in 2020. The yeti-centricEverestis on the schedule for release in 2019, but again, pretty much everything aside fromDragonandTrolls 2is on the potential chopping block right now.
