FIRST LOOK

First Concept Art for del Toro-Produced Animation 'The Book of Life'

by Alex Billington
February 26, 2014
Source: THR

Time for our first look at what might end up being a Best Animated Feature nominee next year. The film is called The Book of Life, and is the feature debut of Jorge R. Gutierrez, who is working with Fox Animation to produce with Guillermo del Toro and Brad Booker. Set on the Mexican holiday the Day of the Dead, The Book of Life tells the story of a young man named Manolo (voiced by Channing Tatum) who is torn between what he wants to do - play guitar and win the heart of the girl of his dreams - and what his family wants him to do. We get a glimpse at Manolo, and his girl, who eventually travels across three worlds to find himself.

Here's the first two concept art shots for Jorge R. Gutierrez's The Book of Life, originally posted on THR:

Here's the poster art for the movie, which first debuted at Comic-Con 2013. Doesn't reveal too much extra:

This actually looks really cool. Explaining his concept behind the look of film, Jorge R. Gutierrez told THR, "the mandate of this movie was: Our 'Art of' book is going to look exactly like the movie. And every artist poured their heart and soul into that idea." The movie is described as a Romeo and Juliet-inspired love story set during Day of the Dead. "All my favorite albums, all my favorite books and films, they are all personal stories that take place in a very specific culture but that are universal," Gutierrez said. "So I wanted to make something that happened in my family but make it for the world." So far so good. Fox Animation & Reel FX Animation Studios are producing, with a voice cast including Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Danny Trejo, Ron Perlman, Ice Cube, Christina Applegate. Fox has The Book of Life set to arrive October 17th this fall.

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