“Bremen Town Musicians” tale to get animated film treatment

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lawrence Guterman, who directed Cats & Dogs, and producer D. Matt Geller are teaming up to create a re-imagined version of the Brothers Grimm tale Bremen Town Musicians for Luxor Entertainment, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Luxor, run by CEO Igor Dobrovolsky, is a company best known as a major exhibitor and distributor in the Russian market. While Luxor has also produced some local productions, it sees Bremen as a flagship animation project designed for a global stage.

The folk tale, which is hugely popular in Eastern Europe, centers on a cat, a dog, a donkey and a rooster who are past their prime as farm animals and, after being tossed out, decide to make their way to a town called Bremen to become musicians. Along the way, they come across a house taken over by thieves and adventure ensues.

Guterman, who wrote the script and is directing, has a take that involves the story being a bent comic romance set in 1713, with the King of Bremen demanding his incompetent wizard to search across space and time for the greatest musical troupe ever to perform at his daughter's wedding. The rest of the plot is being kept under wraps.

The tale aims to combine a satiric tone, heartfelt emotion and comic adventure, as well as actual music (in the folk tale, the animals never make it to Bremen nor achieve their goal of being musicians). Songwriter-producer Steve Jordan (John Mayer Trio) and composer Lance Horn have been hired to work on the CGI-animated feature as well. The project is in the visual development and animatics stage.

Guterma is attached to direct Dog’s Best Friend for Gold Circle.

Geller is producing Night Witches, a feature focusing on Russian female fighter pilots in World War II, with the grandson of former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin.