If you’re an independent film company looking to make the first leap into producing a CG-animated feature, you’re going to want to find an experienced director to make it. Such is the case with Unified Pictures, which has hired DreamWorks Animation veteran John Stevenson to tackle a comedy version of the Noah’s Ark story.
While Darren Aronofsky brought the Biblical tale to the screen with doomy dramatic style this year, Unified is looking to instead focus on the animals’ adventures. Our hero is an outcast aardvark named Gilbert, who has greatness thrust upon him when he becomes the reluctant leader of a group of rag-tag animals who must get to the Ark before the flood arrives. As they make their perilous journey across the land, they learn to work together, and Gilbert, surrounded by pairs, figures out that one doesn’t have to be the loneliest number.
Yes, it sounds a little like writers Philip LaZebnik and Glen Dolman are going for some very familiar themes, but hopefully Stevenson will be able to give them the same tweak he brought to Kung Fu Panda and other movies he’s worked on, including Shrek 2 and Madagascar.
Stevenson is also still attached to Rocket Pictures’ **Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes, but we’re not sure what’s going on with that one right now, as it’s still listed at the script stage by the IMDB. This one might leapfrog it to the screen.