Valiant (2004)

Directed by: Gary Chapman (previously Rob Letterman)
Written by: Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (previously George Webster and George Melrod)

Production Started on: January 2, 2003 (pushed back from September 30, 2002)
Released on: Early 2005 (pushed back from late 2004)

Budget: $40 million

CAST

Valiant... Ewan McGregor (rumoured)

STORY

While set in WWII, Valiant is described by insiders as more Private Benjamin than Private Ryan, following a lonely and comically misfit pigeon through boot camp at the Royal Pigeon Service. Vastly unqualified for the job, Valiant squeaks his way through RAF training and is abruptly sent on the most important mission of the war, charged with carrying key dispatches from the French Resistance to Allies regarding the D-Day landing in Normandy.

INTERESTING FACTS

Variety announced on May 16, 2002 that Shrek producer John Williams would team up with Ealing Studios and Ralph Kamp's Odyssey Entertainment to make Valiant, a $40 million computer-animated movie about a heroic pigeon. Odyssey is launching the project, its first movie production, to international distributors at Cannes. Rob Letterman (Los Gringos) will direct. This comedy penned by George Webster and George Melrod is the story of a wood pigeon who aspires to become a messenger in the Royal Air Force during WWII.

Vanguard Films, headed by John Williams, partnered with the Walt Disney Studios on September 5, 2002 to produce a slate of computer-animated feature films budgeted at between $35 million and $40 million. The deal critically added a second established turnkey supplier to Disney's animation pipeline, alongside Steve Jobs' Pixar Animation Studios. "We have set up a unique approach to funding and making these movies," said Williams. "We will make these films for under $40 million each, and they will be delivered within two years of their start date. We will deliver Toy Story-to-Dinosaur-to-Shrek-level animation. We came to Disney with confirmed financing, completed scripts, completed budgets, multiple CG tests for each film, advanced character designs and production design concepts." Valiant is the first film from Vanguard Animation to go into production, followed by an anticipated slate of three more CG-animated films.

Over thirty pre-production stills from the project were made publicly available on the Vanguard Film website through mid-September, but was taken down shortly after the Disney announcement, and a somewhat negative early buzz about the look of the project started to spread.

A 2-D production based on a very similar story has reportedly been in development since 2001, and was supposedly pitched in the late '90s to both Pixar then DreamWorks, back when Shrek was starting up. Called Fightin' Feathers, that second project is supposedly more kid-friendly, with a cartoony look and tighter plot--all of which is totally unconfirmed at this stage. 'iwantthisrock' revealed in May 2003 that "at the time it seemed like it was Dreamworks who might've had this project up and running. The [anonymous] studio doesn't want the same kind of negative backlash Vanguard recieved when Valiant pre-production art was shown online. I can't talk about who is working on it yet, or what studio is producing it. But I can tell you that it has been around much longer than Valiant, and that the story has gone through extensive preproduction. And I can show you some artwork. The movie is primarily 2D, with (for right now) limited 3D. Almost all the character work will be traditional, as opposed to Valiant's 3D. If everything goes as planned, all the work will be done in North America."

Spanish studio Accio went ahead with the production of a third project called Flying Heroes, with a similar premise except that it is set in WWI instead of WWII. 'Mark' tells us that "they had this idea for some time [and] were shocked to find out about these other productions."

Valiant started pre-production in September 2002 in Los Angeles, then moved to Ealing Studios in London for actual production.

Co-producer Barnaby Thompson argued that the falling cost of animation equipment had opened the door to mainstream, family-friendly product for independents. Just as importantly, Pixar Animation Studios' CGI hits such as Toy Story proved animation can be made outside Disney's Magic Kingdom, albeit with Disney's financing and distribution. "Since Pixar, in general, animation has come from a wider group of people. Pixar has a very distinctive feel. Although it is distributed by Disney, it feels independent."

Thomas Schumacher revealed in an interview with Dutch business magazine DVD-BIZZ in January 2003 that Disney doesn't have to distribute Valiant if the studio doesn't like the film... but it also has an option on all the future releases of Vanguard Animation if it does.

Walt Disney Co. has North America and worldwide merchandising rights on Ealing Studios' Valiant. The $40 million CGI story of WW2 carrier pigeons will be the first film to use Ealing’s new animation studio, and will occupy the facility for no less than 18 months. The film is likely to employ French as well as UK animators, highlighting the importance of European talent in UK animation productions.

Vanguard Animation's John Williams already circled a follow-up project to Valiant: Bruce Hale's children mystery book series, Chet Gecko. Commenting on the fact that he was already negotiating with two studios for distribution, John Williams stated in April 2002, "Chet Gecko is a great parody of the gumshoe detective genre. Hale excels at transporting classic film noir scenarios into new comedy contexts." Jordan Katz had combined a myriad of storylines from the series to create the initial script and is contemplating either The Hamster of Baskerville or Danger is My Beeswax as the title.

USA Today revealed in a March 2003 article that Valiant was "planned for early 2005," pushed back from its original tentative Fall 2004 slot.

The head of Disney feature animation, David Stainton, had this to say about the studio's deal with Vanguard Films chief John Williams to create less costly computer-animated films: "We will have tentpole Disney movies but also fun experiments that are smaller and riskier. We have to be out there. That is where the great big movies of tomorrow will come from."

UK Film Council's Premiere Fund has announced in April 2003 that it would invest $4 million into Valiant, to be directed by British helmer Gary Chapman.

Vanguard Animation announced in August 2003 that it was implementing NXN alienbrain VFX, the only digital asset and production management system specifically designed for high-end computer graphics projects, for the production of Valiant. The film, to be distributed by Disney in North America, was then due for completion in fall 2004. "We are proud to be an integral part of this landmark production and look forward to working with the Valiant team to deliver this CG feature on time and within budget," said Steve Tyson, VP of sales for NXN Software Ltd. NXN alienbrain VFX will enable the 85 CG artists, modelers and managers working on Valiant to track the dependencies between scenes, models and textures, manage large volumes of film frames efficiently and optimize versioning and archiving for all digital assets.

Vanguard Animation, located in Los Angeles and the Ealing Studios in London, intends to produce one release per year.

The Los Angeles Times specified in September 2003 that the deal Disney signed with Shrek producer John Williams and his Vanguard Animation outfit last summer includes four moderate budgeted 3-D movies. "Our hope is to be a major provider of big, commercial CG family movies to Disney's pipeline," said Williams.