Kilkenny to star in Cartoon Saloon’s eagerly awaited new feature

By COLIN BARTLEY

KILKENNY will a huge part in Cartoon Saloon’s eagerly awaited feature, Wolfwalkers.

The transformation animation is not just produced in the city, but the feature is also set in mid-17th century Kilkenny.

Wolfwalkers tells the story of Robyn Goodfellow, a young apprentice hunter who comes to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last pack of wolves. Her life changes after she saves a native girl, Mebh, leading to her discovery of the Wolfwalkers and her transformation into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.

Cartoon Saloon this week attended one of the world’s largest licensing conventions, the Las Vegas Licensing Expo, where they released a short trailer of Wolfwalkers to potential merchandise partners.

The four-time Academy award winning studio announced last year that tech giant Apple had confirmed a deal with the studio for the rights to Wolfwalkers. The planned release date is autumn 2020.

Wolfwalkers is set to be the next release for the studio following their Oscar-nominated features The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner and Late Afternoon as well as in their Emmy nominated TV series, Puffin Rock.

Cartoon Saloon and its 150 employees in the city are currently working on new TV Series, Dorg van Dango and another feature length animation, My Father’s Dragon, the rights to which have already been acquired by Netflix.

My Father’s Dragon is based on the series of children’s books by 95-year-old, New York author Ruth Stiles Gannett Kahn about Elmer Elevator, a young boy who runs away to Wild Island to rescue a baby dragon.

Wolfwalkers is written by Song of the Sea writer Will Collins and the Saloon’s Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart are co-directors. The film is being co-produced with Luxembourg based Melusine Productions.