Oh, wow, this one is going to prove something of a challenge to the marketing drones, methinks. While there's no denying that Shane Acker's 9 looks absolutely fantastic - and has since the days it first appeared on the scene as an award winning short - and that the feature will benefit from the marketing muscle of having Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Night Watch) on board as producers, I'm not sure who they're going to sell this to. You see, animation is very much a kid's domain here in North America and as much as I sometimes lament the fact that more animation isn't targeted to older audiences the way it often is in Japan or Europe that's largely because the films that try to cross that divide fail more often than not. And this one is very definitely going to have to cross that divide.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where the only living things are a group of nine dolls constructed out of burlap and clock work, this is dark, entrancing stuff. The original trailer for the film was amazing and now it has been followed by an extended scene which is equally amazing and also very definitely not for the wee ones. Yow. I suppose the up side is that of the recent animated films to successfully make an impact with older audiences the biggest by a fair margin is The Nightmare Before Christmas so having Burton on board is certainly a plus ...
Check out the clip and the trailer below the break.
Extended Clip
Trailer
9, aka The Characters from Oddworld Starring in Svankmajer's Alice as if Directed by Disney... With Random Scenery from Fallout. Nah, it looks entertaining.
Yeah, it may borrow freely from many sources, but DANG that looks cool!
It isn't hopeful when I see bloggers already calling it Tim Burton's 9. I assume the marketing department will do something similar since it seems to be the trend to mention famous producers instead of the actual director.
This does absolutely nothing for me.
I really looking forward to seeing this. something with a slightly more adult fair. hopefully than can give Pixar a run for their monsy, considering that both Cars and Wall-E were rubbish.
Blew my mind when I saw the trailer for this in front of both Coraline AND Monsters vs Aliens....No plans for this in 3d right?
Tim Burton seems to have become one of those director's whom, as far as the press are concerned, if you get into bed with them, you give up any right to being considered the director of your own film.
just look at poor Henry Selick. people were linking Burton to his latest, CORALINE, and he didn't have anything to do with it!
It's a ways off but looks really good :D