Premise Entertainment Shares Concept, Development Artwork For Upcoming ‘Jesus’ Animated Feature (Exclusive)
Premise Entertainment has given Cartoon Brew exclusive access to early concept and work-in-progress artwork for its upcoming animated feature Jesus, based on the biblical character.
The film is wrapping up pre-production now and will start full production in the first quarter of 2024, with an eye on releasing sometime in 2025.
Jesus is directed by Dominic Carola, a 30-year animation industry veteran whose animator credits include Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear. The film’s screenplay was written by Mulan and Arthur Christmas co-director Barry Cook.
According to Carola:
I’ve had the privilege of working on many films and projects, and this is, by far, the most meaningful and impactful. It’s an honor to bring this film to life with such an exceptional team. We’re leaning into classic elements from the Golden Age of Illustrators with an aim for a beautiful film to match its story content.
Jesus is produced by Ray Aguerrevere and Stuart Lowder, who plan to use the film’s assets in the future to create vr, ar, and metaverse experiences set in the Jesus universe. Crew members include head of production Jason Fricchione (Ice Age franchise), line producer Tracey Dispensa (production manager, How to Train Your Dragon), vfx supervisor John Helms (Star Wars franchise), production designer Armand Serrano (Big Hero 6), and lead editor Lauren Stevens (Spies in Disguise).
Jesus is being financed entirely by The Jesus Film Project, which produced the 1979 live-action film Jesus and has distributed it in the decades since.
According to Aguerrevere:
As we embark on making this unique global film for a global audience, I continue to be amazed by the award-winning talent and team that is coming together to create this film and the immersive digital experience to follow. For me, the most exciting aspect is the way that we will be able to redeploy these assets from the Jesus animated film to create experiences accessible on various platforms, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and the emerging metaverse.
