Irish storyboard artist Fergal Reilly is set to make his directorial debut this coming year when production begins on the 3D adaptation of hugely popular mobile game, ‘Angry Birds’.
Reilly, an IADT graduate, is set to co-direct alongside long-time Disney animator Clay Kaytis. Between them the co-directors have almost thirty years experience in the industry, Reilly’s past credits including work as a storyboard artist on ‘Spider-Man 2’ (2004), ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ (2009) and ‘Hotel Transylvania’ (2012).
A Rovio Entertainment production, the film is projected for a 2016 release with global marketing and distribution to be handled by Sony Pictures – with whom Reilly served as head of story at the company’s animation wing.
The director, a Louth native now L.A.-based, is to work on an existing script penned by Emmy award-winning screenwriter Jon Vitti, whose credits include stints on ‘The Simpsons’, ‘The Office’ and ‘Saturday Night Live’. The game itself has proved extremely popular, having been downloaded over 1.7 billion times and spawning a range of off-shoot merchandising.
CEO of the Finnish company Rovio Productions Mikael Hed expressed his enthusiasm at having both industry veterans on board, dubbing them “two of the brightest rising talents in animation”.
Reilly’s directorial debut is the latest in a string of success stories for the Irish animation industry both at home and abroad, with the past month having seen Dublin-based companies Kavaleer Productions and Monster Entertainment secure distribution deals for their respective products, and Icehouse Media – the more adult-oriented offshoot of Brown Bag Films – debuting their satirical ‘Newsbag’ just last weekend.
The ‘Angry Birds’ adaptation is set for a July 2016 release and will be produced by John Cohen (‘Despicable Me’) and Catherine Winder (‘Ice Age’) and executive produced by David Maisel (‘Iron Man’).
