Oct 9, 2013

Animated vets Clay Kaytis and Fergal Riley direct the "Angry Birds" feature

Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish makers of the Angry Birds franchise, have recruited Clay Kaytis (pictured left) and Fergal Reilly to co-direct a 3D CG animated feature based on the popular game. The film will be released on July 1, 2016 by Sony Picures, according to Deadline.

This will be the directorial debut for both artists. Kaytis, who was an animation supervisor on Tangled and Bolt, recently left Disney after nineteen years at the studio. He is also known in the community for his Animation Podcast. Reilly has been a story artist since the mid-1990s, with his credits including The Iron Giant, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Smurfs, Spider-Man 2, and Hotel Transylvania. He had been slated to co-direct Sony's The Familiars with Doug Sweetland; the status of that project is unclear.

Jon Vitti (The Simpsons, Alvin and the Chipmunks, King of the Hill) is writing the screenplay. Rovio has announced that they will produce the film in-house, though one may assume that they will set up an LA satellite and not produce the entire film in Finland.