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“Halloween,” from rising Colombian prospect Silvia Prietov and “Mi Amigo del Sol,” the latest in a line of cause-driven movies from Mexico’s Fotosintesis Media, are among projects set to be unveiled at Ventana Sur’s 2021 Animation!

They will be joined by the the latest animation titles in development at burgeoning production houses and animation studios around Latin America such as Chile’s Lunes Creative Studio, Mexico’s Panamericana Pictures (“Wild City”) and Argentina’s Malabar (“Sur Marina”) in an event now firmly established as one of the key showcases at Ventana Sur, the biggest film and TV market in Latin America.

Other buzz titles take in Mexico’s “Hanta,” with large fest potential and stunning visuals, and the older audience targeting “The Sleeping Beauty Chronicles,” also from Mexico, a darker fairy tale, even by fairy tale standards.

There are no strong trends at this year’s showcase, given an...

Two blockbuster openers on the same weekend.

Two blockbuster titles are vying for supremacy at cinemas in the UK and Ireland this weekend, as The Suicide Squad opens for Warner Bros against Jungle Cruise for Disney.

Opening in 643 sites, The Suicide Squad is the 10th film in the DC Extended Universe of films based on DC Comics characters. It is a standalone sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad, with a separate narrative but some of the same characters.

David Ayer, director of the first title, was set to return before switching to development on a film about the Gotham City Sirens.

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on Wbgr-fm on June 3rd, 2021, reviewing the new Dreamworks animated film “Spirit Untamed” in theaters beginning June 4th.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Set in the era of the Old West, Lucky Prescott (voice of Isabela Merced) is a girl who was sent away by her father to live with her rich grandpa after her rodeo performing mother dies. When her father Jim (Jake Gyllenhaal) wants to see her when she turns 13 years old, her Aunt Cora (Julianne Moore) escorts her back to the untamed west, where she meets a wild horse of her dreams, which she names Spirit. When a band of marauders want to separate her from her new equine friend, it’s confrontation time.

“Spirit Untamed” opens in theaters June 4th. Featuring the voices of Isabela Merced, Jake Gyllenaal, Julianne Moore, Mckenna Grace and Andre Braugher. Written...

With the kiddos finally out of school (unless they were still “splitting the time” online and in-person), the studios are actually releasing some “child-friendly” fare right into the gradually re-opening multiplexes. Not a big superhero blockbuster, but an animated adventure arrives this post-holiday weekend. Is it something new from the “mouse house”, or its sister company, the recent Oscar-winner Pixar? Well, this is from one of their biggest rivals, the “studio that Shrek built”, Dreamworks Animation. And it’s not exactly new, but more of an “inspired by” than a sequel or franchise entry. It all goes back to a “2D’ (or “classic cell/drawn”) feature from nearly twenty years ago. That feature spawned a “3D’, or “CGI/computer”, streaming series on Netflix. But things have come full circle (much like a corral) as the property returns to theatres, though still “computer-rendered”, with (cue the whinny) Spirit Untamed. Giddyup!

Now,...

This Summer, Take The Ride Of A Lifetime! From The Studio That Brought You How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Dreamworks Animation Presents Spirit Untamed. Rated PG. Adventure Awaits In Theaters June 4th!

An epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse, Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in the beloved story from DreamWorks Animation.

Lucky Prescott never really knew her late mother, Milagro Navarro, a fearless horse-riding stunt performer from Miradero, a small town on the edge of the wide-open frontier.

Like her mother, Lucky isn’t exactly a fan of rules and restrictions, which has caused her Aunt Cora (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore) no small amount of worry. Lucky has grown up in an East Coast city under Cora’s watchful eye, but when Lucky presses her own...

Universal and DreamWorks’ animated “Spirit Untamed” has added Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, Isabela Merced and more to its voice cast.

“Spirit Untamed” is the follow-up to the 2002 Oscar-nominated “Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron.” And rounding out the voice cast are Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Andre Braugher, Walton Goggins and Eiza González.

Elaine Bogan directs the film, which is an epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse.

Karen Foster is the producer, and the film’s co-director is Ennio Torresan. The original score is by composer and Universal Composers Initiative alum Amie Doherty.

Merced, who broke out as the live-action Dora the Explorer in “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” will play the lead role of Lucky Prescott, while Gonzalez plays her mother, a horse trainer and stunt performer, and Gyllenhaal plays her father.

Universal Pictures’ Jennifer Lopez music fueled romantic comedy Marry Me is moving from Presidents Day-Valentine’s Day weekend on the theatrical release calendar next year, Feb. 12 and going to May 14, 2021.

Marry Me will take the place of DreamWorks Animation’s Untitled Spirit Riding Free movie which has now been title Spirit Untamed. That animated pic will now open on June 4, 2021.

This is one of Lopez and Wilson’s highest tested features, I hear, and Universal wants to make an event out of this, at an opportune time on the calendar.

Still, with Wonder Woman 1984 expected to move, and the holiday release schedule in meltdown as we wait out the coronavirus, we can expect more 1Q 2021 theatrical releases to further shift in the future.

Marry Me leaves behind a weekend that has Disney/20th Century Studios’ The King’s Man prequel and Paramount’s untitled Lee Daniels’ Billie Holiday movie on Feb.

DreamWorks Animation has added two more feature toons to its 2021 slate, the Untitled Spirit Riding Free movie based on its Netflix series on May 14, and The Bad Guys on September 17 based on Aaron Blabey’s bestselling Scholastic book series. This raises the Glendale studio’s release count for that year to three titles, the other being The Boss Baby 2 on March 26, 2021. Spooky Jack, previously dated for September 17, 2021, is now unset. The global distribution of Dwa titles is overseen by Universal.

Spirit Riding Free‘s origins go back to the 2002 Oscar-nominated movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron ($122.5M global box office). In 2017, that feature was reimagined by DreamWorks Animation Television as a Netflix original series, Spirit Riding Free, thus igniting interest in the IP among a new generation of young girls.

The new pic will follow headstrong Lucky Prescott, who is forced to move from her big-city home to a small frontier town,...

DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures are in the works on animated films based on the TV series “Spirit Riding Free” and “The Bad Guys” book series, both of which are set to be released in 2021, the studios announced on Monday.

The untitled “Spirit Riding Free” film, based on the Netflix original series from DreamWorks Animation Television, will open wide on May 14, 2021. “The Bad Guys,” based on the 10-book children’s series from author Aaron Blabey, will open on Sept. 17, 2021.

“The Bad Guys” will take the spot of “Spooky Jack,” a collaboration between DreamWorks and Blumhouse, which is now unset.

Also Read: All 36 DreamWorks Animation Movies Ranked From Worst to Best (Photos)

“Spirit Riding Free” follows the unbreakable bond between a free-spirited girl and her wild stallion companion. The show has run for 52 episodes since May 2017, all of which are available on Netflix, and more episodes and content are on the...