Frederator Films launched...

[Speed Tracer]

A trio of toon veterans are launching Frederator Films as an indie feature film company with a mission to produce 2-D animated genre movies budgeted below $20 million.

Fred Seibert's partnered with Kevin Kolde and Eric Gardner, with all three acting as producers on the projects. Seibert's the former president of Hanna-Barbera and longtime producer via Frederator Studios, which debuted a decade ago with "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" for Cartoon Network; that show spun off "Cow & Chicken," "Powerpuff Girls" and "Dexter's Laboratory," and Frederator followed with "The Fairly OddParents," "ChalkZone" and "My Life as a Teenage Robot" for Nickelodeon.

Kolde ran Spumco, the banner of John Kricfalusi ("Ren & Stimpy"), for more than a decade, while Gardner is the topper at Panacea Entertainment, a talent management and production company with clients including Donny Osmond, Richard Belzer, Paul Shaffer, the Sex Pistols, Elvira and members of the Rolling Stones.

Seibert told Daily Variety that the new banner can take advantage of 21st century technology to develop offbeat content into feature films.

"Fred is the master at identifying voids in the marketplace and filling them with paradigm-shifting content," Gardner said. "There has been a dearth of both 2-D and genre animated feature product, which Frederator Films will be rectifying." Pics will be aimed at young males.

First projects from the shingle:

* "Samurai Jack," a feature version of the Cartoon Network skein. The creator, Genndy Tartakovsky, is attached to write and direct.

* "The Neverhood," a claymation feature based on the DreamWorks videogame of the same name. Doug TenNapel, who created the game, is aboard to write and direct.

* "The Seven Deadly Sins," a hip-hop project with Don King hired as the first voice actor.

I'm a huge fan of Samurai Jack... in my opinion, we haven't seen a better animated series in years. A movie is what I've been craving for a very long time. I wonder what this means for Power of the Dark Crystal, though.

The Neverhood was a game I really enjoyed, and I think the movie could be special, especially with the creator's involvement as writer and director. And it's claymation, too. Score. Let's hope that the game's magnificent musical score is intact, or at least expanded upon.

I know there was a project in development called The Seven Deadly Sins at Henson for a long time, with a screenplay by Anthony Minghella. I seriously doubt this is the same project, but man, that movie sounded so cool... I'd rather this be it, but whatever.

I think this all sounds very cool, especially the promise of a Samurai Jack movie.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Yeah! That show was pretty cool!

 

[Speed Tracer]

Yeah, it was so great.

But seriously, I'd like to know what this means for Power of the Dark Crystal... will Genndy go ahead and make this, or keep working on that?

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Maybe they might do both.

 

[Speed Tracer]

Well, I'd assume so, but I wonder which is first on his plate.

 

[crazed gonzo fa]

This sounds pretty darn good! I've really wanted to play The Neverhood, but it's impossible to find.

 

[Speed Tracer]

It was one of the first games I ever played, and to this day I haven't played anything quite like it.

 

[crazed gonzo fa]

Just today I got the game's sequel "Skullmonkeys". It is pretty impressive. Maybe I might find Neverhood on eBay.

 

[MrsPepper]

Samurai Jack on the big screen would be amazing!

 

[Speed Tracer]

Yeah, it would. I wonder who would voice Aku, though, as the original voice actor, Mako, died last year.