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Welcome to our first issue of 2019! As we’re putting the final touches to this fun-packed edition, we’re getting all kinds of news about some of the cool projects coming our way later this year. With every major studio and indie house firing on all cylinders, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by all the exciting developments. But I promise that the team at Animag will continue to curate all the best news for you all through the new year, every day on the website and every month in this print issue.
Last year, we heard some people huffing and puffing about too many sequels and reboots coming down the pipeline. But the truth of the matter is, if all these new chapters in favorite franchises from years past end up being as fresh as Incredibles 2 or the dynamite Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, you won’t hear us complaining. A fine example is
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, which happens to offer a fun new perspective as well as taking the franchise to places we’ve never seen before, thanks to director Mike Mitchell and co-director Trisha Gum. Our writer Tom McLean offers an insightful piece about the mak-
ing of the movie and how the sequel pushes the envelope, both in terms of using a wild selection of mixed-media animation and the clever storyline.
Another highlight this month is the unveiling of 3Below, the second chapter of Guillermo del Toro’s Tales of Arcadia trilogy. We had the chance to chat with exec producers Rodrigo Blaas, Marc Guggenheim and Chad Hammes about some of the challenges and rewards of working on this interesting new DreamWorks/Netflix series. The creative team spent a lot of time making sure the CG animation looked quite dazzling, while exploring deep and timely issues of surviving as an alien on a strange planet and adapting to a new home.
We also had the chance to chat with ASIFA-Hollywood’s exec director Frank Gladstone and president Jerry Beck about this year’s star-studded Annie Awards. The hard-working team at ASIFA-Hollywood, which includes VPs David Derks, Sue Shakespeare, Brooke Keesling and Jeff Wike, devote a lot of time and energy to make this event and so many other ASIFA programs happen. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for all their dedication and love for animation and those who works in this amazing industry.
Here’s to another year full of inspiring animated shorts, TV shows, movies and VR projects. Keep ‘em coming, because we’re here to tell the world about them!