Apr 28, 2016

BBC and Netflix Partner on CGI Remake of "Watership Down"

The BBC has produced Watership Down as a four-part mini-animation, which Netflix will distribute exclusively outside the U.K. The four-hour CG-animated series will premiere on BBC One in the U.K. next year.

Based on the novel by Richard Adams, the story of a colony of rabbits fighting for their lives was previously animated in an unconventional and violent feature film directed by Martin Rosen in 1978. The new series will be written by Tom Bidwell (My Mad Fat Diary) and directed by Norm Muro (300: Rise of the Empire).

Dublin, Ireland-based Brown Bag Films ("Doc McStuffins," "Bing," "Peter Rabbit") will produce the CG animation. The animation team will be led by co-director Pete Dodd ("Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Frankenweenie") and producer Hugo Sands. The series is a co-production between BBC One and Netflix and will be produced by 42 and Norm Muro's company Biscuit Films.

According to a report in The Telegraph, this new version will have much less violence and female characters will play more important roles. Watership Down is characterized by being an epic adventure story," executive producer Rory Aitken told the paper, explaining why the new series will have less violence." Watership Down has a widespread reputation for being scratchy, horrific, and cruel, but that's not really what the story is about. It doesn't stray too far from the darker side of the book, but it won't be visually cruel and hurtful"

. [The announced cast includes: James McAvoy ("Filth," "X-Men") as Hazel; Nicholas Hoult ("Mad Max: Death Road to Rage," "X-Men") as Fiver; Ben Kingsley ("Gandhi," "Iron Man 3") as Woundwort as General; John Boyega ("Star Wars," "X-Men"): in "Episode VII: The Force Awakens" and "Attack the Block"; Gemma Arterton in "Made in Dagnam" as Clover; Miles Jupp in "The Rev" and "The Thick of It plays Blackberry, Freddie Fox of "Pride" plays Captain Holly, Olivia Coleman of "The Night Manager" and "The Lobster" plays Strawberry, and Anne-Marie Duff of "Suffragette" plays Heisenstray.