Athena Studios partners with Skywalker Sound on the stop-motion animation feature film Auntie Claus.
Athena Studios, an Emeryville, CA-based company specializing in production services for film, animation, and multimedia clients, is in the home stretch with its Kickstarter campaign to raise funds toward the production of an animated film, Auntie Claus. The Kickstarter campaign will conclude on Thursday, Oct 17, at 5:30pm PT. The studio obtained the feature film rights to the award-winning children’s Christmas book by author Elise Primavera over the summer. The announcement was made by Jon V. Peters, CEO/Founder, Athena Studios.
Peters and Athena Studios worked on the Auntie Claus pitch trailer, featured on the Kickstarter site, with four time Academy Award-winning sound designer and motion picture editor Ben Burtt, at Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm company. Peters and Auntie Claus co-producer Brice Parker recently met Burtt during a chance encounter at Burbank Airport, and shared with him their vision for the film, and the fact that its production could create 200 jobs for the Bay Area film community.
Ultimately, Athena Studios plans the project as a 90-minute, stop-motion animated motion picture. In addition to Burtt, other heavyweight animation industry figures already committed to the production of Auntie Claus include:
Pete Kozachik, Director of Photography: Kozachik has served as DP on Coraline, The Corpse Bride, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. He was involved with the Visual Effects on Star Wars Episode II, Ghostbusters 2, Starship Troopers, Star Trek IV, and Robocop 2 and 3.
Tom Proost, Art Director: Proost has served as Art Director on Coraline, and worked in Visual Effects for Galaxy Quest, Star Wars: Episode II, The Mummy, AI: Artificial Intelligence, and The Matrix 2 and 3.
Brice Parker, Producer: Parker is a Pixar Animation Studios and ILM alum and was involved with Visual Effects management on the Jurassic Park and The Matrix film franchises.
Tim Taylor, Camera and Lighting: Taylor ran camera for Coraline and Frankenweenie, and worked in Visual Effects for Con Air and Back to the Future 2.
Source: Athena Studios
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
