Fox Goes Family

Not to be outdone by a faltering Disney, 20th Century Fox is dialing-up the number of family films it produces. The Fox strategy is to produce and distribute a major animated film each year with several sub-majors during the year.

Up to now, Fox has not been producing any family-friendly animation but has been distributing pictures from DreamWorks, that deal is ending as DreamWorks was required by Comcast, which also owns Universal Pictures, severed the relationship.

To counteract this situation and to accomplish their goal of producing their own animated films, Fox has entered into a long-term co-production and development deal with Locksmith Animation.  Fox, which owns Blue Sky Productions, the makers of the 'Ice Age' films, plans on augmenting Blue Sky's slate of films.

Three projects are currently in development with the plan being Locksmith's first film with Fox will screen at cinemas in the fall of 2020.  Although tight-lipped about the project, rumors have it that the movies will be entirely original and not based on books or pre-existing intellectual property.

Animation is big at the boxoffice typically out-grossing most other genres. Locksmith originally had lined-up a deal with Paramount but that fell through when Paramount installed a new CEO, Jim Gianopulos, who didn't like the deal.

We wish Fox and Locksmith the best and look forward to their films.

Jim Lavorato