Warner Brothers Beefing Up Their Animation Unit

Earlier today, fans got their first look at Superman Unbound, a Brainiac-centric direct-to-video film based on a story by Geoff Johns. Well, apparently that’s not the only news Warner Brothers are looking to make with their animation unit, as Deadline announced today that the studio is looking to form a “feature animation creative consortium” to get them caught up to the pace with which other studios are pumping out feature-length animated movies.Of course, the DC Universe animated features come out a few times a year, but those aren’t generally of theatrical release quality. The studio is looking to get more movies on the order of Iron Giant made, to compete with the giants at Disney and Universal whose lucrative deals with Pixar and Dreamworks have them pumping out a $250 million-plus-grossing animated feature film or two every year.As the first film to come out of the arrangement, Warner Bros execs Jeff Robinov, Greg Silverman, Courtenay Valenti and Chris deFaria will oversee The LEGO Movie, which will be released in 3D by Warner Bros/Village Roadshow Films on February 7, 2014. Other development projects currently in the pipeline include a film from each of the directors signed on to the consortium.Deadline reports that John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, Nicholas Stoller, Phil Lord and Chris Miller and Jared Stern are the first directors in the program. Stoller brings Storks, which will be directed by Doug Sweetland for 2015; Requa and Ficarra will helm Smallfoot, from an original idea by Despicable Me‘s Sergio Pablos to direct with an eye toward 2016.It’s difficult not to imagine that this endeavor will cross paths with DC Entertainment in some way; with Warner Premiere folding after The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 and Warner Animation taking over the productions going forward, a kind of “alpha branch” of Warner Animation seems like the perfect home for animated features based on some of DC’s more family-friendly fare, like Amethyst of Gemworld or even Metal Men, since Barry Sonnenfeld doesn’t appear to be moving forward with it in any big hurry. Copying the success of Marvel Studios has been a big winner for Warner of late, so look for them to entertain the idea around the time Marvel’s first animated feature–Big Hero 6, rumored to be due in 2014 under director Don Hall.