Oct 21, 2018

New Trailer: "Asterix: The Secret of Magic Potion"

A new trailer is out for the French feature Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (Asterix: Le Secret de la potion magique).

The film is due to be released in French theaters on December 5, 2018. No distributor is onboard yet for U.S. theatrical distribution, which is a shame considering that these Asterix pics are some of the best comic-to-cg animation translations and look as good as anything produced by the American studios.

Directed by Louis Clichy and Alexandre Astier, from an original story by Astier, the trailer is in French only, like the earlier teaser.

Based on the beloved French comics created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the series centers around the squat Gallic warrior Asterix and pal, Obelix, a sculptor who carries large stones around on his back. The duo, along with the rest of their Gaul village, resist Roman occupation in 50 B.C., primarily by means of a magic potion that temporarily gives them superhuman strength.

The studio synopsis:

Their first appearance in feature-length computer animated form, Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods (Asterix: Le domaine des dieux), also directed by Astier and Clichy, became France's highest-grossing animated film of 2014, earning US$26.6 million, and topping $50 million worldwide. That film was never released in the United States.

We spoke with director Louis Clichy about the new feature back in August. Read the interview here.

Creative development and production on the new film is being handled at the Paris studio of Mikros Image Animation, which also produced the first cg effort. The Technicolor-owned company, with studios in Paris and Montreal, is best known for producing the animation on Captain Underpants, The Little Prince, and Sherlock Gnomes.

Production partners on The Secret of the Magic Potion include SND, M6 Studio, M6 Films, and publishing house Editions Albert Renee.