Top Comic Book Series to Be Computer Animated
Sceneries International, the Beverly Hills-based foreign sales company,
brings for the first time to the American Film Market and the Cannes Film
Festival the adaptation of Warp Graphics' extremely successful Elfquest.
The picture will be produced by Paris-based Sceneries Europe, headed by
Philippe Diaz, as a European production, in association with Trixter, the
Munich-based animation studio headed by Michael Coldewey. Trixter and
Sceneries have already collaborated on the much-anticipated Heavy Metal:
F.A.K.K. 2, which will be released this Fall.
The entirely CGI project, being worked on in association with Wolfmill
Entertainment (Pocket Dragon Adventures), has been in development for the
last six months and is now in active pre-production.
Called "one of the most important works in American Fantasy" by the
American Library Association, Elfquest has fans the world over, with over
2.5 million copies of the graphic novel collections in print throughout the
United States, Germany, England, France, Italy, Scandinavia, Russia,
Australia, South Africa, China and Japan.
Unlike most comic books' 95% male readership, Elfquest appeals to males and
females equally. Called both "a fantasy with teeth" and "an action soap
opera," Elfquest tells a dynamic adventure tale with richness and depth
provided by a large cast of characters whose emotional stories are expertly
woven in and out of the action.
Other merchandise includes prose novels and short story anthologies, a
children's book, figurines, caps, tee-shirts, bookends, calendars, audio
books and even an upcoming tarot deck.
The comic books are extremely popular everywhere they're distributed. In
some countries, such as Germany, they outsell Superman and Batman. The
bound collections can be found at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and all fine
book stores.
In 1997 NASA took one of the characters into space as the logo of a Space
Shuttle science mission making Elfquest, along with Peanuts, only the
second comic strip to be so honored.
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The Sceneries pavilion at the American Film
Market, held in Los Angeles the last week in February.
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While most other film companies turned nearby hotel suites and
hallways into a hamster maze, Sceneries rented an entire storefront and
presented a relaxed atmosphere for film rights seekers.
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The Elfquest area within the Sceneries pavilion
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A closeup on the "stars," who were very well-behaved throughout the
entire experience!
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