Mexican Studio Anima Releases ‘Wicked Flying Monkeys’ Trailer (Exclusive)

Mexican animation firm Ánima Estudios, producer of the hit 2011 Mexican film Top Cat: The Movie, has released a trailer for its next feature Guardianes de Oz (retitled Wicked Flying Monkeys for English audiences). The film is set to premiere in Mexico on April 10, 2015. It is the studio’s eleventh feature since launching in 2002, but notable as their first produced with computer animation.

Watch the Spanish trailer below:

Directed by Alberto Mar (Top Cat: The Movie), the film has an original story by Mexico-born director Jorge Gutierrez, who helmed the recent Reel FX feature The Book of Life. Veteran American television writers Doug Langdale and Evan Gore are credited for the final script along with Gutierrez.

Taking place in L. Frank Baum’s Oz universe, the film follows Ozzy, a young flying monkey who rebels against his boss, the wicked witch Evilene, and reaches out to the “Guardians of Oz”—the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tinman—who have been put under a spell by the witch.

“We believe the ideal medium for this ambitious story was the use of 3D, hence the effort to use this technique for the first time in one of our movies,” said José Carlos García Letona, vice-president of Ánima, in a press release. “The experience has been very satisfying and we want to repeat it for our next project.” The studio is currently working on a CG Top Cat feature.

Ánima co-produced the animation with Indian animation studio Discreet Art Productions. Gutierrez designed the characters with his creative partner and wife Sandra Equihua, with whom he also co-created the Nickelodeon TV series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. “Working with the amazing Mexican artists at Ánima studios was a blast!” Gutierrez told Cartoon Brew. “This film is yet another encouraging sign of the endless talent currently brewing in my beloved Mexico.”

(Thanks, Christian Bermejo)