Animation buffs enjoyed one of the best year’s in recent memory in 2012, as box-office successes like Wreck-It Ralph, Brave, Hotel Transylvania and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted entertained audiences. We haven’t seen any animated films in 2013 yet, as the year has been characterized by horror features like Mama and Texas Chainsaw 3D. Our first animation effort will be The Weinstein Company’s Escape From Planet Earth, which will be in theaters on Feb. 14.
EW’s The Family Room unveiled three character posters for director Cal Brunker’s adventure comedy, introducing the blue-skinned heroes from the planet Baab. We have them below:
Brunker is a storyboard artist whose credits include Ice Age: Continental Drift, Despicable Me and Horton Hears a Who!. This will mark his directorial feature debut (though he helmed a TV movie titled Ninjamaica back in 2009).
Reading the plot summaries I can find online, I believe Escape follows a worshipped astronaut (voiced by Brendan Fraser) who is a hero to the native population of Baab. But when he and his quietly nerdy brother (Rob Corddry) accept a mission to investigate a mysterious SOS on a distant planet, they get more than they bargained for on planet Earth.
The Planet Earth trailer did a good job of selling the fish-out-of-water concept, and the high-octane physical comedy that will be on display in the movie. And the cast is impressive, adding the voices of Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Alba, Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson, Sofia Vergara, Paul Reubens and many, many more. Reason enough to check it out? I sure hope so, but we’ll see when the film hits theaters on Valentine’s Day.
