Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has announced that its future lies in movie theaters. Pam Abdy, co-president of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, explained in Burbank that they will seek bold and modern films, combining well-known properties with original stories. The bet is to create a diverse offering that connects generations, being entertaining for families and sophisticated for adults. The first test will be The Cat in the Hat, which premieres on November 6.
A technical bet on visual authorship 🎨
The studio is betting on projects driven by filmmakers and visually ambitious. This implies a development where art direction and character design take center stage, leaving behind generic formulas. Rendering and animation technology will adapt to each project, seeking a unique style that works both on IMAX screens and in conventional theaters. The idea is that the graphic aspect is a hook in itself, without relying solely on known properties to attract the audience.
The Cat in the Hat and the pressure not to be a disaster 🐱
This entire plan rests on the ears of a talking cat with a striped hat. The pressure is such that the feline must prove that Warner animation can be modern without becoming a jumble of quick jokes and references. If things go well, we'll have cat for a while. If it goes wrong, perhaps the studio will decide that the global audience prefers watching kittens on YouTube rather than in theaters. Mission accomplished or not, the cat eats the hat.