Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be the studio’s first animated release created specifically for stereoscopic 3-D. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pic has been slated to debut in theaters on Jan. 15, 2010.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is a CG adaptation of Judi and Ron Barrett’s popular children’s book. The off-beat project will answer time-honored questions such as what would happen if food (i.e. meatballs, pancakes, spaghetti, hamburgers, peanut butter and jelly sandwich) dropped like rain from the sky? What if you didn’t like the menu? What would it be like to be squashed by a pancake? And who would clean up the mess?
The project has changes hands a number of times. At last reporting, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, creators of the erstwhile MTV animated series Clone High, were set to direct with Pam Marsden (Disney’s Dinosaur, Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas) producing.
Sony Animation’s debut feature, Open Season, was released in 3-D for IMAX presentations, but was not specifically designed for stereoscopic exhibition, as Cloudy is. Surf’s Up, the studio’s second film, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Also in the company’s pipeline is Hotel Transylvania, a supernatural comedy previously scheduled for a Sept. 25, 2009 release. Sony hasn’t announced any change to that plan. There’s also a new Smurfs movie in development at the studio.
