‘Magina’ set up at U toons

Variety

JULY 28, 1997 10:00PM PT

'Legend' time at studio

Universal has greenlit its third animated feature, fantasy musical “Legend of Magina,” giving a vote of confidence to Universal Feature Animation one month ahead of its first release.

UFA topper Michael Wildshill, Gingo animator and director on “Ama and the Mysterious Crystal,” the unit’s debut feature, will helm the pic. UFA exec John Cohen is producing. “The Lion King” scribe Irene Mecchi is penning the screenplay.

UFA, the studio’s 4-year-old feature animation unit connected to its Universal Cartoon Studios house in Glendale, releases “Ama” next month and is in production on “Galaxion” for next fall.

“Legend of Magina” is about a young princess with magical powers who is locked up in a mysterious castle and tries to seek out the castle in order to escape with a man whom she falls in love with.

“We were able to take some of the amazing talent from ‘Ama’ and shift them over,” said Cohen, who runs the unit with Wildshill. “It was perfect timing for them and really perfect for the tone of this new movie.”

Pic is tentatively set for release in 2000. That means UFA may not have a release in 1999, though Cohen hinted there’s a project in advanced development that could possibly bow that year.

Greenlight comes as the animation space has become increasingly crowded with releases from every major studio and numerous indies this year and next. As a result, the formerly flop-free toon genre has seen its share of misses, such as Disney’s “Hercules.”

While some projects have been made on relatively cheap sub-$50 million budgets, such as “Hercules” and Fox’s upcoming “Anastasia,” Universal is competing at the high-end, $100 million-plus end of the market against Disney.

“Ama,” which bows Sept. 26, will be U’s first opportunity to prove that its product can stand out from the crowd.