Dr Seuss The Lorax

EXCLUSIVE: Mad Men star Jon Hamm has signed on to provide the lead voice (alongside Sandra Bullock) in Minions, the Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment spinoff of the Despicable Me franchise. Bullock was previously set to voice Scarlet Overkill, a stylish bad-ass super-villain who is (what else?) bent on world domination. The 3D CG animated comedy has been set for release December 19, 2014. At the same time, veteran animated feature film executive Tito Ortiz has returned to Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment in the position of VP Development. Ortiz was one of the original employees at Illumination when it opened its doors in 2007, serving as Director of Development until 2011, when he left the company to pursue opportunities in the music industry. Even during his hiatus, Ortiz stayed close to the company by assisting in development across multiple properties. In his new role, Ortiz will be involved in the development of new feature film projects, and has already started in that mission with the recently announced animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, which will be directed by Pete Candeland. Illumination and Universal next release Despicable Me 2 this summer, and then comes the spinoff with the adorable yellow henchmen, who got their start in ... Read More »

DreamWorks Studios announced today that they’ve signed a first look deal with Carla Hacken’s Paper Pictures. The agreement is for one year and started last month. Hacken left her position as production president at New Regency last August and formed Paper Pictures soon afterwards. The former ICM agent and longtime Fox 2000 executive vice president, had joined New Regency in November 2011 as Arnon Milchan and CEO Brad Weston began to restructure the company to be a more filmmaker driven enterprise. Paper Pictures’ projects currently include The Leaves for Lionsgate/Summit, The Paul Weitz written and directed Kicked Out of Kindergarten with Conde Nast Entertainment as well as CBS Films’ The Man Who Forgot His Wife, Before I Fall based on the best-selling Young Adult novel by Lauren Oliver, and Seuss a blacklist script with Colin Firth attached.  Additionally, Bronwyn North-Reist joins Paper Pictures as a Creative Executive.