Cotillard, Franco, Bridges, Gervais and Del Toro's roles revealed

Wild Bunch boards Little Prince
5 May, 2014 | By Melanie Goodfellow

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based sales powerhouse heads to Cannes with American director Mark Osborne’s anticipated feature-length animation The Little Prince

The $80m The Little Prince is Osborne’s first feature-length work since co-directing DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, which grossed more than $650m worldwide.

The director will attend the market to give an hour-long presentation of the film, which is due for delivery at the end of 2015.

Osborne adapted Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 classic alongside British screenwriter Irena Brignull. The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) is the second most translated book in the world.

“The film intertwines a contemporary tale of a little girl who discovers The Little Prince through a reclusive elderly neighbour,” said Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval.

The feature combines CG animation for the real world of the little girl and stop-motion animation for the world of the book as imagined by her.

The English-language voice cast includes Marion Cotillard (The Rose), James Franco (The Fox), Benicio Del Toro (The Snake), Jeff Bridges (The Aviator) and Ricky Gervais (The Conceited Man). The voice of the little prince has yet to be revealed.

Crew on the film include character designer Peter de Sève, who worked on Ice Age, Finding Nemo and Tarzan, and Lou Romano, whose credits include Monsters Inc and The Incredibles.

“It’s made by animators who are the best in their fields,” said Maraval.

Wild Bunch has a long track record in selling animation, handling the catalogue of Japanese Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli and more quirky fare such as Patrice Leconte’s The Suicide Shop, although The Little Prince marks its first studio-style animated title.

Paramount Pictures is planning a wide US release for the film and is also distributing in France. Warner Bros will release the picture in Germany and Japan. AR Films has taken Russian rights. All other territories are open.

Paramount executives will be in Cannes to unveil their ambitious release strategy. The feature is lead-produced by Dimitri Rassam and Aton Soumache’s Paris-based Onyx Films.