How Evolving Technology Helped ‘Puss in Boots’ Animators Update Sequel

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” stole the hearts of the audience at its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 10, no matter whether or not they’d played the 50-year old role playing game that shares its title. The action comedy stars Chris Pine as a rakish bard named Edgin and Michelle Rodriguez as his platonic life-partner, the tough-as-nails warrior, Holga. The two set off on a quest to reunite Edgin with his estranged daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman), and they wind up working with Xenk (Regé-Jean Page), a valorous paladin; Simon (Justice Smith), a sorcerer with an inferiority complex; and Doric (Sophia Lillis), a no-nonsense shapeshifting druid. Rounding out the cast are Hugh Grant as Forge Fitzwilliam, Edgin and Holga’s untrustworthy former compatriot; and Daisy Head as Sofina, a powerful wizard who is more than she initially seems.

Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez headed straight to their fans at the 2023 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas.

The 60th annual ICG Publicists Awards Luncheon is underway at the Beverly Hilton, and Deadline is posting the winners as they’re announced. Check out the list below. 

Deadline reports that Peacock has an exciting project in development: “Excellence: 8 Fights,” an eight-part events series about boxing legend Muhammed Ali. But it’s more who’s involved with the series that’s exciting.

Ellise Shafer An eight-part event series about boxing icon Muhammad Ali is in the works at Peacock from Regé-Jean Page, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Willmott, Variety has confirmed. Hailing from writer and executive producer Willmott (“BlacKkKlansman,” “Da 5 Bloods”), the drama is titled “Excellence: 8 Fights” and is based on Jonathan Eig’s definitive biography “Ali: A Life.” “Bridgerton” breakout Page and Freeman are both on board as executive producers. According to the show’s official description, “Excellence: 8 Fights” will “chronicle eight distinct and defining moments in the iconic life of Muhammad Ali. Each episode will be framed by one fight from Ali’s life, but the essence of the episode, what it’s really about, is the internal fight – the drama outside the ring – where we will explore the struggle going on in the heart and mind of one of the most consequential and controversial figures of the 20th century.”

K.J. Yossman Florence Pugh and Zach Braff reunited in London on Wednesday evening for the premiere of their movie “A Good Person,” which Braff wrote, directed and produced and which Pugh starred in and produced. In the film, Pugh stars opposite Morgan Freeman as a young woman who descends into opioid addiction after a car she is driving is involved in a serious crash. During a Q&A session after the screening, Braff told the audience he wrote the screenplay for Pugh during the COVID-19 lockdown while still grappling with grief over the deaths of his sister and father in 2018 followed by his close friend Nick Cordero, who died from COVID complications in 2020.

EXCLUSIVE: As we mark the 52nd anniversary of the Ali-Fraser fight today, Deadline can reveal that Peacock is developing Excellence: 8 Fights, a scripted eight-part event series about boxing great Muhammad Ali, based on the definitive biography Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig. The project hails from Oscar-winning BlackKklansman co-writer Kevin Willmott, Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary’s Revelations Entertainment, Regé-Jean Page and Emily Brown. Page is executive producing; there is currently no deal in place for him to star as Ali. CBS Studios and UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, serve as the studios. Eig is producing.

NEON has acquired the North American rights to Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning director, Raoul Peck’s (I Am Not Your Negro) documentary Orwell, the definitive feature-length documentary on visionary author George Orwell, with the exclusive cooperation of the Orwell Estate.

Shocking footage has captured the moment a teenage girl was booted unconscious outside a school while an adult woman cheered on her attacker.

It’s contest time again!  Earlier this week, on February 28, 2023, DreamWorks and Universal Home Pictures released the newest film from the “Shrek” universe, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” on 4K UHD, Blu-Ray, and DVD. For the first time, though, everyone’s favorite adventurous cat is found in a collectors edition featuring exclusive bonus content!  READ MORE: Antonio Banderas On ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ & Whether He’s Down for ‘Shrek 5’ [Interview] The film, directed by Joel Crawford and co-directed by Januel Mercado, has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Film.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will soon head to Peacock after a staggeringly successful run both in theaters and on PVOD. The film bows on the streaming platform on March 10, there joining a series of Puss In Boots shorts, as well as other films in the Shrek franchise, and such additional DreamWorks favorites as The Croods and Trolls World Tour.

It’s contest time again!  Earlier this week, on February 28, 2023, DreamWorks and Universal Home Pictures released the newest film from the “Shrek” universe, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” on 4K UHD, Blu-Ray, and DVD. For the first time, though, everyone’s favorite adventurous cat is found in a collectors edition featuring exclusive bonus content!  READ MORE: Antonio Banderas On ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ & Whether He’s Down for ‘Shrek 5’ [Interview] The film, directed by Joel Crawford and co-directed by Januel Mercado, has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Film.

Karen Idelson When director Joel Crawford considered including a realistic panic attack in “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” he knew it would be an important moment for kids and adults alike. “We know so many people who struggle with anxiety or we struggle with it and have panic attacks ourselves,” Crawford says. “Children can handle these scenes, maybe sometimes better than adults, and it can help everyone to feel seen if we create a scene that feels like it’s drawn from something that really happens.” In the scene, Puss is overwhelmed by fear as he considers that he’s used up eight of his nine lives. Though the character’s signature state of mind is that of a daring, playful and extroverted cat, this new film takes him in a more vulnerable direction.

Evan Rachel Wood is clapping back at allegations she “manipulated” Ashley Morgan Smithline into accusing their mutual ex-boyfriend Marilyn Mason of sexual assault, claims the latter has since formally taken back. As we’ve been following, the Westworld

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content is developing Ryan La Sala’s bestselling social horror novel, The Honeys, for film.

Inventing Anna’s and Rihanna’s beau , to announce the faces of its new Gucci Guilty campaign. The teaser image sees Elliot wearing a Hawaiian shirt and looking straight at the camera. (You can see it .) “Oscar-nominated actor, director and producer Elliot Page stars alongside A$AP Rocky and Julia Garner in the new Gucci Guilty campaign.

Karen Idelson The subtleties of war. The struggle with loss and grief. The search for a home and belonging. The terror of puberty. The realization of mortality. This year’s Oscar nominees in the animated feature category never shied away from the big issues. Underneath the bold exteriors of their artistic and technological achievements, each one embraced difficult, rich themes. “I think there’s a way that young and old can both feel the emotion and the meaning of the story,” says “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” helmer Joel Crawford. “Puss’ story is something we can all relate to in a way. He’s this fearless hero who has this moment where when he comes across the wall, feels fear for the first time because he knows he’s run out of lives and that he’s mortal — like all of us — for the first time. That moment is an impression of fear that I think everybody can feel. But then we are also able to tap into to some brighter kind of themes as well like hope through this impressionistic style we used in the animation. 

Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page took a rather awkward stumble as he, and girlfriend Emily Brown, arrived at the lavish Charles Finch x Chanel pre-BAFTA dinner in London. As the pair arrived at 5 Hertford Street ahead of Sunday's awards ceremony, the actor, who is thought to be in the running to play the next James Bond, was snapped as he appeared to fall off the pavement. Sporting a blush pink suit and a white T-shirt, Regé-Jean, 34, arrived to the glitzy event in style, however his entrance was perhaps not as glam as he expected as he tripped over the pavement.

Now in his mid-80s, Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski proved that age is just a number when his film EO premiered in Cannes last year, earning him the Jury Prize for this picaresque story of a donkey on the move, from good situations to bad. His lucky streak continued this year when the film was Oscar-nominated for Best International Feature — surprisingly, his first nod from the Academy in a career spanning 60 years.

difficult news of Bruce Willis's health, Demi Moore has shared snaps of herself spending time with close pals to celebrate Jamie Lee Curtis's Oscar nomination. Demi and Jamie Lee also posed alongside Katey Sagal, Jaimie Alexander and Amy Landecker, as the group hilariously showed off their hotdog finger gloves in reference to Jamie's Oscar-nominated role in Everything Everywhere All at Once.  Demi partied alongside famous faces to celebrate close friend Jamie Lee Curtis's Oscar nomination Demi captioned the post: "Celebrating our sweet friend @jamieleecurtis - everyone, everywhere, all at once. The biggest congrats on your Oscar nom for @everythingeverywheremovie! You deserve it all and we love you so much."RELATED: Demi Moore evokes old Hollywood glamor in a leopard-print dress from throwback shootFans rushed to the comments to share their love for the post.