Danny McBride is teaming with up-and-coming Spire Studios to develop an animated film titled Trouble. The film “aims to bring to life the three words kids fear the most: you’re in trouble”. McBride co-created the original story alongside Spire Studios co-founder Brad Lewis, who previously produced Ratatouille and co-directed Cars 2.
The project is only in early stages of development, but the story revolves around Jax, a 13-year-old who is constantly getting in trouble with his family, so much that one day he finds himself in a parallel reality known as the ‘World of Trouble’. Within this bizarre world of chaotic adolescence, he’ll have to figure out how to get back home, get out of trouble, and learn the power of empathy and self-forgiveness.
“The idea of being in trouble is a universal fear we’ve all experienced growing up”, said McBride in a statement. “Being able to build out what that world could look like and exploring how we can make this an animated adventure with Brad and the team at Spire has been awesome”.
Lewis added: “Danny has such a unique sensibility and grasp of wonderfully irreverent characters, creating a story together is a dream come true. I’m definitely looking forward to getting into Trouble together”.
Spire launched last year, and this is only their second animated project. Their first, Century Goddess, was announced back in October. That one will follow a young woman who is also a once-in-a-century goddess, who uses her power of song and spoken word to ignite a revolution against an artist-suppressing dictatorship.
Judging by the logline of both projects, Spire look to be aiming to create fresh, inventive stories. It’s also no surprise that the studio began within the past year, as it’s been easier for animated projects to continue production during the pandemic.
With Netflix and Apple each jumping head first into the animation space, it’s a good time to be a fan of the genre. With a variety of interesting projects in the works from different studios, we should be looking at a future where not all animated films are preceded by Cinderella’s Castle, Luxo The lamp or whatever Dreamworks’ title card is (go on, try and remember it).
#Peace.Love.Trouble
