‘Ratatouille’ Scribe Jim Capobianco’s Directorial Debut ‘The Inventor’ To Get U.S. Theatrical Run

Blue Fox Entertainment has picked up the U.S. rights to Jim Capobianco’s Annecy competition player The Inventor and will release the film in U.S. theaters on August 25.

Capobianco is an animation veteran who worked on various films at Disney including The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Fantasia 2000, before moving to Pixar where he shared an Oscar nomination for co-writing Ratatouille. The Inventor is his directorial debut and has tremendous buzz coming off its Annecy premiere. Pierre-Luc Granjon, an animator, co-directed the film.

The Inventor details:

• Using puppets that spark an instant nostalgia for classic Rankin/Bass holiday stop-motion fare, the feature visits time spent by Leonardo da Vinci as part of the French court in the years following his departure from Italy. In France, the inventor finds greater freedom to experiment with his timeless inventions and the company of the audacious Princess Marguerite.
• The Inventor is produced by Curiosity Studio, Foliascope, Aerial Contrivance Studios, and SIE Films. Producers are Robert Rippberger, Jim Capobianco, Adrian Politowski, Martin Metz, and Ilan Urroz. Executive producers are Don Hahn, Nadia Khamlichi, Nessa McGill, and Sierra Garcia.
• Voice casting includes Stephen Fry, Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard, Gauthier Battoue, and Matt Berry.
• In a release, Capobianco said: “I am thrilled that Blue Fox has leaped forward to bring The Inventor to theaters where audiences can experience Leonardo da Vinci’s adventures on the big screen. His legacy proves that through our actions, we can inspire those around us—girls, boys, women, and men—to be curious, to challenge the status quo, to think in new ways, and to be inventors in their own lives.”