'Angry Birds' movie coming in 2016

Game creator Rovio says it will sidestep partnering with a big studio and instead produce and finance the film alone.

Tue, Dec 11 2012 at 1:43 PM

Photo: Rovio

Last we heard about anything concerning a possible "Angry Birds" feature-length film was back in October 2011. Rovio, creators of the immensely popular game, said the appeal of such a film would be greater than previous videogame-to-movie conversions because of its immense international popularity. Indeed, in October 2012, Executive Vice President Andrew Stalbow said the games have been downloaded a staggering 1 billion times.

Today, Rovio recommitted to the project, saying that the film will be released in 2016. Even more interesting, the company plans to produce and finance the entire project itself. Rovio officials have even gone ahead and hired John Cohen to help helm the project. Cohen's industry credits include animated hits like "Despicable Me," "Hop," in addition to work on "Ice Age," "Robots" and "Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who.". David Maisel, former chairman of Marvel Entertainment, will be the executive producer.

"With John's hands-on producer background and David´s expertise in establishing and running his own successful studio, these two are the dream team for making a movie outside the studio system," Rovio CEO Mikael Hed said in a statement.

As for what exactly the plot of such a movie might be (after all, "Angry Birds" isn't known for its depth of story), Maisel won't reveal. But he does hint that it will surprise cynics like myself.

“It has to be everything that you’d expect from an Angry Birds movie as a fan of the game, plus so much more with surprises, innovative things, and twists,” said Maisel. “It’s something that we’ve worked already a lot on and we will over the next few years. It’s an experience that you’ll say, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that.’”

Check out a hilarious spoof trailer for "Angry Birds: The Movie" below. Let's hope the real one is a bit better.

Related post on MNN: Angry Birds theme parks coming to the U.K.

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