A clip from an upcoming animated version of Jack London’s classic 1906 novel White Fang was screened on Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is expected to be released later this year.
London’s novel is told from the point of view of its titular protagonist, a wolfdog that becomes domesticated and serves his master loyally. Previous adaptations include feature films and an animated television series. The latest movie has been directed by Alexander Espigares, who co-directed the Oscar-winning short film Mr Hubolt in 2013. The film combines motion capture and cell animation. The voice cast includes Rashida Jones and Nick Offerman.
The clip was screened at Sundance by producer Big Beach, whose titles include Little Miss Sunshine, Chop Shop, Loving and an upcoming animated version of Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid.
“Animation allowed us to tell the story the way that London did in the book, from the vantage point of the Wolf,” Big Beach co-founder Peter Saraf told Deadline. “The book is on school curriculums in 75 countries, and it is the kind of thrilling subject matter that parents are searching for to take their kids and we are looking for the right domestic distributor to release it on 300-500 screens.”