Yesterday, the first trailer for next Christmas’ Peanuts<\/i> film was released.<\/p>\n
Wait. What? There’s a new Peanuts<\/i> movie? How can that be?<\/p>\n
Yes. Next Christmas, Blue Sky Studios, the animation studio behind the Ice Age<\/i> and Rio<\/i> series, will be releasing The Peanuts Movie<\/i>, the first Peanuts<\/i> film since 1980’s Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back)<\/i> and the first CGI animated Peanuts<\/i> film ever.<\/p>\n
And for the “how,” in the past few years, the Schulz estate has started to open the door somewhat on Peanuts<\/i>. Since Charles Schulz’s death, no one has written or drawn new editions of the Peanuts<\/i> comic strip, but there are Peanuts<\/i> comic books with new stories and there’s Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown<\/a><\/i>, a new animated special that was adapted from a number of old Peanuts<\/i> comic strips. Plus, old material is being repackaged in new formats, like AMP’s themed collections (such as Snoopy: Cowabunga<\/a><\/i> or Charlie Brown and Friends<\/i>) or Fantagraphics’ holiday books (like Charlie Brown’s Christmas Stocking<\/a><\/i> or Batter Up, Charlie Brown!<\/a><\/i>)<\/p>\n With that in mind, they wanted to move forward with a new animated film. And, to be honest, I can’t blame them. Animated movies, especially<\/i> CGI animated movies, are a big deal right now. And new Peanuts<\/i> projects will put Peanuts<\/i> in front of new audiences who may not be familiar with the classic comic strip; get a comic book in their hand or get them in the theater for The Peanuts Movie<\/i>, and those can be their gateway drug, for want of a better term, into the real Peanuts<\/i>.<\/p>\n I have to admit, I was skeptical when The Peanuts Movie<\/i> was announced. “CGI animated Peanuts<\/i>?” I thought. “Sacrilege!” But then I thought about the trailer for Snoopy Flying Ace<\/i><\/a>, a game for the Xbox 360, and the CGI animation worked really<\/i> well there. Yes, I’m used to seeing Schulz’s characters in 2-dimensions, but it wasn’t weird to see them in 3-dimensions when the first teaser trailer came out in March:<\/p>\n