Big Screen Bears
We just love bears here at ComicMix. Be it real bears, scary bears, Gummi Bears or Care Bears, we can’t get enough of these furry fellas! That’s why we’re pleased as punch to report that two famous bears are coming to a big screen near you.
Up first, Warner Bros. has announced a live-action feature version of Yogi Bear, based on the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Ash Brannon (Surf’s Up) is attached to direct, while Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia (Tooth Fairy, executive producers on That 70’s Show) are writing the screenplay. The film is said to be a live-action/animated hybrid along the lines of the recent Alvin and the Chipmunks. Yogi, who first appeared on The Huckleberry Hound Show before launching his own series in 1961, will be done in CG alongside his sidekick, Boo Boo. The majority of the film will be shot in live action.
And panda lovers will be happy to learn that a sequel to DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda is officially in the works. Set for release on June 3, 2011, Panda 2 will be released in 3-D on both regular and IMAX screens worldwide. Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and other voice cast members will reunite for the sequel. Panda veteran Jennifer Yu Helson has signed to direct, while producer Melissa Cobb and co-producers/writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger are also set to return. Kung Fu Panda 2 will compete against Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2, also set for release in summer 2011.
If you can’t wait that long for more Panda action, all you have to do is wait until November 9 when the original film is released on two-disc DVD and Blu-ray. The package includes an original companion story, Secrets of the Furious Five. Ska-doosh.
Kung Fu Panda was a critical and box office surprise hit when it opened in late June. Now, it is surprising people again as Paramount Home Video has announced that the November 9 DVD release will come bundled with an original tale. The Sunday release comes two days ahead of the traditional street date for books, CDs and DVDs.
According to USA Today, the new Hulk 
took second with $34.3 million, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening took third with $30.5 million and a couple others were above $13 million.
