One of the early casualties of the Disney Fox acquisition was the Mouse Guard movie, cancelled two weeks before it was due to start filming. Now, director Wes Ball has confirmed that it is proper dead, with no other studios willing to pick it up. He also released a nine minute demo reel – maximum effort.
Disney decided that Mouse Guard was too expensive, risky, and different for them to support (who even wants to watch high fantasy played out by warrior mice? ME, A THOUSAND TIMES, ME), but at least we get to see what might have been, I guess.
The footage is pre-CG, so not exactly what it would have looked like after the WETA workshop got its paws on it, but it gives a really good feel for what they wanted this movie to be. Ball also released a walkthrough of their pre-production house, full of artwork I want for my wall, and concept artist Darek Zabrocki shared some of their work for the film on their Instagram. This made me so happy and so sad at the same time.
Yes sadly, its true. Our #mouseguard movie is dead.
Seems it’s too big a risk. It’s a damn shame really. We had something special. To my hella talented cast/crew: I’m sorry I couldn’t push this one through. The past year with you all has been a blast. May the Guard prevail! pic.twitter.com/MGRq54uI6O
— Wes Ball (@wesball) 26 June 2019
Did Ball just pull a Deadpool, hoping to drum up support by releasing the footage? It’s certainly got people talking. Let’s hope it’s the right people; the ones with money.
Via Screen Rant.