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Pooch Cafe Movie
By Paul | January 10, 2008
After 18 months (!) of negotiations the contract with Sony has been signed to potentially turn Pooch Café into a computer-animated feature film. Sony’s first two cgi films were Open Season and the awesome Surf’s Up, brilliant examples of the craft, so I’m extremely excited to be shacking up with them. Over the next 12-18 months some preliminary work will commence, things like story and character designs, before a decision is made about proceeding into full production. From what I’ve figured out so far this process can be quite glacial, but I’ll post regular updates as we go along so we can all experience the mechanics of developing a comic strip for the big screen (or however far we get). Sweet biscuits! This could be fun.
Comments
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January 10th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Paul,
Congratulations! We are so happy for the Pooch Cafe movie we are dancing for joy!!!! I called my fellow workers at the card store and there is definitely dancing in the aisles. It will be interesting following the process. Also, we are dreaming of all the tie ins…movie posters, maybe even Poncho figurines and all the other characters….Who do you think would be a good actor to voice Poncho? I think all us bloggers should give some ideas…not that they would listen to us, but it sure would be fun…like who would be your perfect Pooch Cafe cast….and more importantly, who would play the porch plank? What do you think fellow bloggers?
NinaGeeka
January 10th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
That’s great about the movie! As to the cast, that is too much fun, NinaGeeka. Now these are just off the top of my head: Hmmm. Albert Brooks=Chazz. Edward Norton=Poncho (don’t know why, exactly, but I think his voice is closest to the one I hear when I read it). Boomer=Zach Braff. Poo Poo=Vin Diesel (kidding, but I think that would give the poor guy an ego boost). Carmen=Patricia Heaton.
I’m a big Bugs Bunny fan, so I would have like to see classic animation for Poncho, but this will still be quite fun.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:59 am
[…] Paul Gilligan’s blog comes news that his feature, Pooch Cafe has been optioned by Sony Animation to be made into a CG feature film. He notes that Sony’s two previous forays into computer-animated movies include Open Season […]
January 13th, 2008 at 5:33 am
James Earl Jones=Beaumont
Kathleen Turner=Droolia
Adam Sandler=Poo Poo (I just think Poo Poo needs a voice that is not TOO masculine)
This is so exciting!
January 13th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Lots of fun choices, here. I should start keeping a tally.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Paul,
That’s really great. Well deserved. I can’t wait.
January 24th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Ahh! I know the perfect voice for Poncho:
Charles Adler [http://imdb.com/name/nm0012121/]
In his “Mr. Whiskers” voice.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
If i heard this from someone else I could not believe it, it’s amazing to have Poncho in a movie!!!, is it done yet ??? IS IT DONE YET ???? HURRY UP !!!
March 5th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
i think jerry seinfeld would make a good poncho voice.
and if you could get michael douglas and kathleen turner to do chazz and carmen that would be pretty cool!
maybe throw bruce willis and morgan freeman in there somewhere.
WOW!! this is gettin’ pricey!
March 5th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
That’d be a pricey one alright, Lefty! And who knows, by the time this gets to the screen half those guys could be dead!
March 6th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I think that Will Arnett would be the perfect Poncho voice - he does bluster and then chagrin so well - did you ever watch Arrested Development? Gob Bluth, his character, is a very Poncho-like human - so assured of his own skills and suavity despite years of evidence to the contrary.
March 8th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I cant wait for this to come about
March 8th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I would love to see a Pooch Cafe movie!!
March 11th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Very excited to hear that a Pooch Café movie is on the table. As Nocats says, I would have liked to see it done in a classic animation style but I’m sure it’s going to be great however it’s done. Can’t wait to see it.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
These days it seems for some reason that classical animation for major motion pictures is a recipe for a bomb. Personally I think it was more the choices of the most recent movies animated in that style; things like Sinbad and Treasure Planet would have tanked in any style. I think classical animation got blamed unduely.
That said, as far as CG animaiton goes Sony is right up top with Pixar. I’d be a lot less enthusiastic if Dreamworks or some other company was planning to CG it. Have you seen Surf’s Up? The work is breathtaking.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:03 am
No I’ve not seen it, I’ll have to have to give it a look. So what’s it about Dreamworks you don’t like? I thought the animation was really good in Shrek 3, though I didn’t think much of the story.
The reason I’d have preferred it in a classical animation style is just because I’d have liked to have seen it animated in the same way you illustrate your comic strip, but don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to see the movie however its done and it’s the humour in the movie that’ll be the reason I watch it, and we ALL know it’ll be hilarious as long as your writing it.
March 19th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I don’t mean to be too hard on Dreamworks, the animation there is obviously still quite good, but I find they never have that extra magical quality Pixar has. Compare Bugs Life (Pixar) to Antz (Dreamworks), or Finding Nemo (Pixar) to Shark’s Tale (Dreamworks). I find the Dreamworks movies to be competent, while the Pixar ones are seriously magical. And Sony, from the two movies they’ve released thus far, seem to lean towards the Pixar side of the scale. Of course that’s just my opinion.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:13 am
I suppose your right when you look at it like that.
Anyway, looking forward to the movie if/when it gets made. I guess I’ll have to keep myself entertained by reading the Pooch Café comic strip in the meantime. Thanks for replying to me.
Dave87
July 13th, 2008 at 6:16 am
I have another voice suggestion.
Bob Goldthwait as Poo Poo!
That way when Poo Poo gets all riled up he can make all those weird noises!
And you could probably get him for cheaper money than Seinfeld!
November 14th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
lets hope it keeps poncho’s personality unlike garfield the movie
November 14th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
The one “problem” with precisely what you’ve just mentioned is that characters in comic strips and, generally tv shows remain stagnant, so that you get the same character every week. But in a movie a character usually has to “grow” in some way for the sake of the story. It presents a problem with characters like Poncho who are resistant to learning lessons.