Peter Jackson’s New Zealand-based Weta Digital has announced the launch of Weta Animated, a new division to finance and produce original animated content.
Weta Digital is one of the leading visual effects firms in the world, while Prem Akkaraju will serve as CEO of the new Weta Animated while Jackson and Fran Walsh will write, produce and direct several animated projects for the company.
Jackson says in a statement: “We are huge fans of animated storytelling in all of its forms, but it can be a long, protracted, and often costly way to make movies. That’s, in part, why we have created this company – to change the model and open the doors to filmmakers and storytellers who might not otherwise be given the chance to show what they can do.”
The six-time Oscar-winning Weta has also continued safely and uninterrupted operation during the pandemic, and is well-equipped for its pivot to original animated content.
Though the focus intends to be on original content, the announcement has raised hopes that Jackson’s long-awaited “The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun” project – a follow-up to Steven Spielberg’s performance-capture-animated “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” created by Weta Digital – may finally get moving.
Source: Indiewire
