George Lucas and Lucasfilm Announce STRANGE MAGIC, a Secret Animated Movie

For those of you who thought that George Lucas' sale of Lucasfilm to Disney had ended the Star Wars creator's involvement with the company, you got a surprise on Tuesday. Lucasfilm and Disney announced Strange Magic, a CGI animated musical written by Lucas and inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream.

“Strange Magic,” a new animated film from Lucasfilm Ltd., will be released by Touchstone Pictures on January 23, 2015.  “Strange Magic” is a madcap fairy tale musical inspired by “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Popular songs from the past six decades help tell the tale of a colorful cast of goblins, elves, fairies and imps, and their hilarious misadventures sparked by the battle over a powerful potion. Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and Industrial Light & Magic, which created the CGI animation for 2011’s Academy Award®-winning film “Rango,” bring to life the fanciful forest turned upside down with world-class animation and visual effects.

With a story by George Lucas, “Strange Magic” is directed by Gary Rydstrom (“Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation,” “Lifted”), produced by Mark S. Miller (associate producer “Mars Attacks!”) and executive produced by George Lucas, with a screenplay by David Berenbaum (“Elf”), Irene Mecchi (“Brave,” “The Lion King”) and Rydstrom. An extraordinary roster of film, television and Broadway stars lend their voices to “Strange Magic,” including Alan Cumming (CBS’ “The Good Wife,” Broadway’s “Cabaret”), Evan Rachel Wood (“The Ides of March”), Kristin Chenoweth (Broadway’s “Wicked”), Maya Rudolph (“Big Hero 6,” “Bridesmaids”), Sam Palladio (ABC’s “Nashville”), newcomer Meredith Anne Bull, Alfred Molina (“Chocolat”), Elijah Kelley (“Hairspray,” “The Butler”), Bob Einstein (HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and Peter Stormare (“Fargo”). Well-known music producer Marius de Vries (“Moulin Rouge”) serves as both the musical director and composer.

There had been some speculation that Disney was working on a Frozen sequel subtitled Strange Magic last week based on some domain files, but it turns out it's Lucas' next project.

It's very, um, strange for a movie to fly this under the radar for so long. Strange Magic will be released on Jan. 23, 2015, which isn't all that far away. The fact that Lucasfilm and Disney were not only able to keep the movie under wraps this long but chose to do so doesn't bode well for the quality of the movie. Lucasfilm has assembled a pretty good cast and crew for Strange Magic, but I'm not sure that's enough to overcome this suspicious covert production.

We've been hearing rumors that a teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is ready to go. Could Strange Magic be the movie it gets paired with? It could make a ton of money thanks to people paying for a ticket, catching the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser and then leaving the theater.