May 7, 2015

Gnosis and Toonz team up for the new Wilvington feature project

Gnosis Moving Pictures and India's Toonz Media Group are joining forces on a number of upcoming CG-animated feature films, including four films to be directed by Academy Award-winning Claymation pioneer Will Vinton.

The projects will be produced out of Toonz's facilities in India and New Zealand. Toonz is part of the multi-billion dollar Geneva, Switzerland-based Comcraft Group and will “contribute substantial equity to the projects.”

“At Toonz we believe in creating wonderful stories with a soul for kids all over the world,” said Toonz CEO P. Jayakumar in a written statement. “It was a delight to discover that Gnosis has a similar vision and I hope this partnership brings out wonderful visual treats for kids across the globe for a very long time to come.”

Gnosis Moving Pictures is currently developing several children's films that “both entertain and encourage children across the world” including, as its first project as part of the partnership, a film directed by Vinton. Contacted by Cartoon Brew, a representative for Gnosis-whose partnership with Vinton was announced in 2014-was unable to confirm that the project in question is Vinton's previously announced space adventure feature The Quest.

The company's current slate of animated film properties in development includes the bird-oriented fantasy/adventure Flightless; the live action/CG hybrid Jack Hightower, a comic action adventure about a miniaturized secret agent; Moby & Dick, which throws a young stowaway into the mix of Herman Melville's classic story; and the stop-motion/CG Santa Claus story, Nicholas. Vinton is attached to direct the latter three projects.