American director Peter Hewitt has signed up for The Wonder 3D, a fantasy-adventure that marks the first of five movies to be made by the newly formed SZ Wonder Pictures over the next three years. They'll all be financed and based out of China and New Zealand in an arrangement that has a very futuristic feel to it. As Jeff Daniels said in Looper: "I'm from the future, go to China*."*
The Wonder sees three teenagers, led by the defiant outsider Rachel, embark on an adventure together. According to the official synopsis, they spot a "rainbow reaching up to the sky from a pool of golden energy. With the help of friends Grace, a Chinese girl, and Tane a Maori boy, the teenage trio adopt high-tech methods to find another, and learning of ancient rainbow legends they each make a special wish. Finally they actually track down a rainbow and go on an incredible but terrifying ride." Sounds like Skittles: The Movie.
Hewitt, who has previously delivered us the joys of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, showered us in the kitty litter that was Garfield, and brought those klepto-midgets The Borrowers to the big screen, has some serious talent to work with. Avatar cinematographer Richard Bluck is on board, as is **Blade Runner **art director David L. Snyder, so it's safe to expect an impressively rendered world with immersive 3D.
Filming will run for ten weeks in Auckland and China, with casting details expected soon.