Later this year, Dreamworks Animation follows up the incredibleHow To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden Worldwith the first female-led animated film to be also written and directed by a female director,Abominable. The film—co-produced by Pearl Studio—is set in a modern Chinese city and centers on the teenage Yi (voiced byAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’sChloe Bennet) who discovers a runaway Yeti on her roof one night while playing her father’s violin. After taking care of the Yeti’s wounds, she decides to help him find his way back to his home in the Himalayas. The duo are eventually joined by Yi’s childhood friend Jin (voiced byTenzing Norgay Trainor), who’s worried about his hair, clothes and social media more than anything else and Peng (voiced byAlbert Tsai), a youthful, energetic ball of wonder.
After naming the Yeti “Everest”, this quartet embarks on an epic journey visiting a number of the manmade and natural wonders of China. All while while trying to avoid Everest’s capture by the villains Burnish (voiced byEddie Izzard) and zoologist Dr. Zara (voiced bySarah Paulson). Will Yi and her crew get Everest home safely or will Burnish and Dr. Zara get their Yeti? And what role will Everest’s magical abilities play along the way? We’ll get our answers to these questions later this year.
On Monday July 15th, Collider (along with a number of other online outlets) had the pleasure of being invited by Dreamworks Animation to visit their offices to chat with some of the creators ofAbominable. We talked to writer/directorJill Culton, co-directorTodd Wilderman, producerSuzanne Buirgy, production designerMax Boas, head of character animationJohn Hill, and VFX supervisorMark Edwards. We were exclusively shown about 20 minutes of footage, production stills and artwork, animated sequences, and heard about the ups and downs that this project went through to get made.
It was truly an immersive and incredible experience. For an admitted animation novice like myself, it provided a window into the massive time and effort it takes to actually make an animated film. You could almost say that their journey to gettingAbominablemade mirrored Yi’s journey to bring Everest back home. We’ll see the fruits of their labors when the film opens worldwide on September 27th. In the meantime, here is a collection of 20 things we learned about the production during our visit to get you ready for its release.
