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In the 30 years since Avi Lerner founded Millennium Media, then Nu Image, in 1992, the company, legendary at the American Film Market for its straight-to-video mockbusters (Freefall, Cyborg Cop), creature features (Crocodile, Killer Rats) and cookie-cutter macho action mov- ies (Operation Delta Force, Deadly Outbreak) has grown up. A bit.

Millennium hasn’t abandoned its genre roots, but by focusing on fewer, bigger movies that can secure proper theatrical releases — most of them economically shot at the company’s Nu Boyana studios in Bulgaria and Greece— the company has built up an impressive library of blockbuster franchises, from Gerard Butler’s Has Fallen series to action comedy romps The Hitman’s Bodyguard, featuring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek, to the AARP all-star actioners The Expendables, which revived the careers of many a Millennium veteran. Expendables 4 hits the- aters next year.

Under...

"Isn't it amazing that all of this came out of that little book?" The Orchard has revealed an official trailer for the documentary titled Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators, telling the story of the creators of everyone's favorite little monkey, Curious George. Created by Hans and Margret Rey, they eventually had to flee from Paris at the beginning of World War II to escape the Nazis, and they were luckily able to smuggle out the first manuscript of what would become the very first Curious George book. The doc tells their story, not only escaping the Nazis, but also how they came together and originally envisioned the idea for the beloved children's books. Monkey Business was successfully got funding on Kickstarter in 2016, and will be released this month for anyone excited to watch this. Featuring narration by Sam Waterson, and adorable animated scenes, this looks like a...

The Orchard has released the official trailer for Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators! Featuring a narrow escape from the Nazis on makeshift bicycles, Monkey Business explores the extraordinary lives of Hans and Margret Rey, the authors of the beloved Curious George children’s books. Check it out:

After a successful Kickstarter campaign to help raise the necessary funds to bring the film to life, Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators! is due to be released by The Orchard On Digital and On Demand August 15th!

The post Here’s the Official Trailer for Monkey Business: The Adventures Of Curious George’S Creators appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

-Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films have acquireed “Youth in Oregon,” directed by Joel David Moore and written by Andrew Eisen. The film stars Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place, Josh Lucas, Nicola Peltz and Alex Shaffer. “Youth in Oregon” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and will screen at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January. The movie will be released theatrically and on demand in the U.S. on February 3, 2017.

Per the film’s official synopsis: “When 79-year-old curmudgeon Raymond (Langella) makes arrangements to be euthanized in Oregon, his family refuses to accept his decision. But when another family emergency arises, Raymond’s daughter Kate (Applegate) turns to her husband...

The distributor has finalised a deal for global rights to Monkey Business: The Adventures Of Curious George’s Creators.

Ema Ryan Yamazaki directed and Sam Waterston narrated the film about Hans and Margret Rey, the creators of the renowned Curious George character and children’s book series who fled Nazi-occupied France on hand-made bicycles before settling in the Us.

The film is in post and will open in 2017. The Orchard’s recent slate includes Neruda, Cartel Land, The Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Life, Animated, and Christine.

London and Montreal-based creative studio Cinesite has hired Marianne O’Reilly as COO for its feature animation studio in Montreal, which will increase its capacity to span two floors within the building to support of current productions on 3Qu Media’s four-film slate. O’Reilly most recently served as head of animation and visual effects at the Vancouver Film School.Andrew Garfield will receive the 28th Palm Springs International Film Festival...

The Orchard is ready for some Monkey Business.

The distribution company has acquired the worldwide rights to the Sam Waterston-narrated documentary Monkey Business: The Adventure of Curious George's Creators, which tells the largely unknown story of George’s creators, Hans and Margret Rey.

The Reys fled from Nazi-occupied France, ending up in America, where they created one of the most treasured children's-book protagonists, Curious George, who has starred in TV series and movies, including a live-action film currently in the works at Universal.

First-time feature director Ema Ryan Yamazaki helmed Monkey Business, which was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.

Yamazaki obtained 300 boxes of the Reys’ personal archives for the...

The Orchard has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the documentary Monkey Business: The Adventures Of Curious George’s Creators, with a planned release sometime next year. The film is directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki with Sam Waterston narrating. Monkey Business chronicles the largely unknown story of George's creators, Hans and Margret Rey. From fleeing Nazi-occupied France on self-made bicycles to encounters with exotic animals in Brazil, the Reys lived lives of…...

The winning filmmaker will become a candidate for August Project of the Month. That winner will be in the running for Project of the Year.

The four projects up for this week’s Project of the Week are listed below, with descriptions courtesy of the filmmakers. You can vote at the bottom of the page.

Malacostraca: A man who’s lost his mind sees his baby not as his own, but instead as a hideous crawdad creature. What will he do?

The Rising: An acclaimed filmmaker turns his lens to the frontlines of the Bp Horizon disaster and the large scale cover-up of the tragic health effects following the infamous spill in 2010.

Curious George Documentary: Explores the extraordinary lives of “Curious George” creators Hans & Margret Rey and how their narrow WWII escape brought us the world’s most beloved monkey.

Guap: A quirky, character-driven indie comedy that slows down the rapid-fire gentrification in Washington Heights,...

Here’s your daily dose of an indie film, web series, TV pilot, what-have-you in progress — at the end of the week, you’ll have the chance to vote for your favorite.

In the meantime: Is this a project you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments.

Curious George Documentary

Logline: “Curious George Documentary” explores the extraordinary lives of “Curious George” creators Hans & Margret Rey and how their narrow WWII escape brought us the world’s most beloved monkey.

Elevator Pitch:

We all know Curious George. But what about his creators, Hans and Margret Rey? From fleeing Nazi-occupied France on handmade bicycles to encounters with exotic animals in Brazil, this mixed-media documentary explores the untold story of “Curious George” – the life-long journey of Hans and Margret Rey, whose creation continues to touch the hearts and minds of children around the world today.

Production Team:

Ema Ryan Yamazaki – Director...

Andrew Adamson is going from ogres and lions to monkeys. The filmmaker, best known for helming Shrek and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is in negotiations to direct and co-write a new Curious George movie from Universal and Imagine Entertainment. The project is a live-action take on the classic book series by H.A. and Margret Rey that first began publishing in 1941. The character and books have been translated into television series, several shorts and films. The popular 2006 animated movie that featured the voices of Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore was made by Universal,

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Generations of children grew up with Curious George, but very few know the incredible true story behind his very first adventure - a daring escape from Nazi Germany. The little-known tale of George and his creators, Hans and Margret Rey, is finally coming to light with the new mixed-media documentary Monkey Business by filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki, who was granted unprecedented access to the Reys' archives by their estate. "I actually grew up in Japan thinking George was a Japanese monkey, not realizing that every country was claiming him," Yamazaki tells People. "It's really been a global phenomenon from the beginning.

Generations of children grew up with Curious George, but very few know the incredible true story behind his very first adventure - a daring escape from Nazi Germany. The little-known tale of George and his creators, Hans and Margret Rey, is finally coming to light with the new mixed-media documentary Monkey Business by filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki, who was granted unprecedented access to the Reys' archives by their estate. "I actually grew up in Japan thinking George was a Japanese monkey, not realizing that every country was claiming him," Yamazaki tells People. "It's really been a global phenomenon from the beginning.

You know that noise Krusty the Klown makes when something goes wrong? That sort of low groan?

That's the sound I made when I read this news. If you're like me, you were a happy-go-lucky child who spent his days skipping to school and making wonderful new friends, loving life and living it to the fullest.

Wait, no. That's not right. Ok, let's try again. If you're like me, you were a relatively introverted child who was awkward and uncomfortable around people and spent most of his time either watching bugs, or reading. One of my favorites when I was a wee Tk was Curious George, the inquisitive monkey who got into all manner of adventures with his friend/owner, The Man With The Yellow Hat. The original books were written by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey, dating back to the early 1940's, and I absolutely adored them. The...

24 Frames is reporting that Despicable Me creators Illumination Entertainment is developing a new Curious George movie for Universal Pictures to distribute. The site says that "The movie is expected to feature the wry animated images of 'Despicable Me' and will spin a new story of George the monkey/chimpanzee (depending on whether you favor H.A. and Margret Rey's text or the tail-less images) who's taken out of the jungle by an eccentric explorer to live in the city, where mischief always seems to find him." The 2006 Curious George , voiced by Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore, earned $69.8 million worldwide. That film was produced by Imagine. Larry Stuckey, who penned the upcoming Little Fockers , is writing the new film.

Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind the unexpected success Despicable Me, are engineering a reboot of the Curious George film franchise. Again, the film will be loosely based on the children’s book series scribed by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey. Larry Stuckey has been hired by the studio to write the script.

We previously reported that plans were already in place for a sequel to Despicable Me, and now it seems Universal are undoubtedly looking for other films to help them find their place in the animation market, alongside the big daddies: Pixar and Dreamworks Animation.

A film version of Curious George was originally attempted in 2006, featuring the voice-talents of Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore and Eugene Levy, and, despite being well-received by critics, failed to lure a decent-sized audience.

If you are unaware of Curious George, then you can read up on the history, courtesy of the official website:

Curious George by H.

The upcoming animated film "Curious George 2: Follow that Monkey" is set to release a soundtrack accompaniment, featuring the hit "California Sun" by Brian Wilson along with all new songs by Carbon Leaf.

Also included is a special title track recorded by Jackie Greene and an original score by Heitor Pereira.

The soundtrack is the result of a worldwide deal of Savoy Label Group (Slg) with Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Back Lot Music. It will be released worldwide on March 2, coinciding with the release of the DVD.

"Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey," based on the children's stories by H.A. and Margret Rey, is the sequel to the 2006 film "Curious George."...