Feature Length MLP Movie Announced For 2017!

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/my-little-pony-movie-in-the-works-at-hasbro-studios-exclusive-1201334144/

 

Hasbro Studios has given the greenlight to a “My Little Pony” movie, with plans to release the animated film in 2017.

The film will join “Jem and the Holograms” as the first to be produced through Allspark Pictures, a new label through which the company will self-finance or pair up with other companies to co-finance a slate of film projects.

Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Prods. already is co-producing the live action “Jem,” with Universal Pictures co-financing the movie’s budget. The studio has dated the film for release on Oct. 23, 2015.

Hasbro Studios will take the reigns of “My Little Pony,” producing and financing it in-house. It is in discussion with studios to release the film “on the broadest possible number of screens,” said Stephen Davis, president of Hasbro Studios and global entertainment and licensing for Hasbro Inc. “We’ve very excited about the potential of that movie.”

Joe Ballarini, who wrote Fox’s “Ice Age: Continental Drift” is penning the script for the “Pony” pic, while Megan McCarthy, who produces and has written for the series “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic,” and straight-to-homevideo “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls” films, will serve as co-executive produceron the theatrical movie.

First introduced in 1983, and developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger and Steve D’Aguanno, the “My Little Pony” characters have colorful bodies, manes and distinguishing “cutie marks” on their flanks. The property has launched four animated series and been revamped over the years, enjoying strong sales in the 1980s and then again in 2010, with its popularity driven by well-received shows.

“Jem” is a musical fantasy that reimagines Jem amid the current hyperlinked social media era in a story of a small-town girl going from underground video sensation to global superstar with her three sisters.

Jon M. Chu directed from Ryan Landels’ script with Aubrey Peeples as the lead. Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis also star.

Hasbro also is partners with Blumhouse on its next film, “Ouija,” out in theaters Oct. 24 through Universal. Stile White directed the thriller that’s based on Hasbro’s game.

Hasbro has no plans to turn its back on big-budget franchises.

“We will continue to make big tentpole movies with our studio partners,” says Davis of franchises like “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe,” at Paramount, and “Monopoly” and “Candy Land” at Sony, “but there is another set of movies where we feel we have an opportunity to have a bit more control over the budgeting, financing, calendarization, marketing and creative of our films. There are new economic models that fit certain films.”

With “My Little Pony,” Hasbro already has produced direct-to-homevideo animated movies and is producing the 100th episode of the franchise’s current TV series that plays in over 180 countries worldwide on kids cable channel Discovery Family, formerly The Hub, starting Oct. 13.

“We have a lot of experience working on this particular brand,” and when it comes to producing the animation, technology has brought down costs to a level where it doesn’t need to spend $100 million or more to make the film. Hasbro declined to disclose the budget on the “Pony” pic.

“Film and TV is a key driver and very important part of the building blocks for a company like Hasbro,” Davis said. “It’s where we want to use great stories to activate our brands.”

Hasbro’s girls segment, which includes “My Little Pony,” “Nerf Rebelle” and other toy lines, saw sales increase 5% to $407.7 million during the company’s third quarter, whose results were announced Monday, during which overall revenue increased 7% to $1.47 billion.

 

[Sceethe 704]

just read it on EQD,

 

Let´s hope it is going to be awesome.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,328]

I know one thing is that my body is ready.

[AppleGearRising 525]

And so It begins...

 

ALL ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN!!!

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

I just really hope there isn't too much hype for this. As we've seen for Titanfall & Destiny, hype can otherwise kill something that is at least decent.

 

Regardless, I'm quite intrigued about this.

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

I wonder if this confirms season 6 as the last season. We knew the G4 brand was being extended for 5 more years, and this takes us almost to the finish line. If they wanted to end the brand with a movie, this would be a good time to do it.

[Pinkamena-Pills 6,838]

 

... 

 

 

This pleases me. 

I look forward to seeing Pinkie in this movie... -- the other stuff too ofcourse.  

Edited October 20, 2014 by Pinkamena-Pills

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

I wonder if this confirms season 6 as the last season. We knew the G4 brand was being extended for 5 more years, and this takes us almost to the finish line. If they wanted to end the brand with a movie, this would be a good time to do it.

 

I doubt it really confirms much of anything at this point. All we have is a movie, which may or may not have any impact on the show at all, similar to Equestria Girls and the IDW comics.

 

Really, there is the distinct possibility that the movie may fall apart and not even happen. I remember when the "Legend of Spyro" movie was announced by involved companies, only to be cancelled months afterwards. ;_;

 

Of course MLP will likely fair better, but still, don't get hyped too much.

[Unr3alGamer 230]

Let's hope this is a MLP: FiM movie and not something new with the same animation team.

[Naiya The Brony 480]

Yup you read it there will be a MLP FiM Full official movie... all ponies and no human... and it will be held at 2017. It's the thing you've been waiting for.. For the fans who wants to see a full length movie involving only ponies and such..

how great is that?

I think two things will happen... it will either be that the movie will be the show's series finale Or it is a bridge connecting to a new season... like season 6? or 7?

Read more about it here
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/10/my-little-pony-feature-length-film.html

Edited October 20, 2014 by Nihi The Brony

[Jeric 46,834]

Well ... this is happening. I have to admit I did fanboy a little. Looked a lot like this. 

 

 

 

Then I saw the writer. Now I am optimistic, but still a little cautious. Now begins the THREE YEAR WAIT! 

 

And yes, they will likely go forward with Season 6 and 7

I just really hope there isn't too much hype for this. As we've seen for Titanfall & Destiny, hype can otherwise kill something that is at least decent.

 

Regardless, I'm quite intrigued about this.

 

Hype never killed anything Pathfinder.

 

[Red Cedar 1,406]

Well, we'll see how this plays out. Part of me dreads it a little, as I don't think they've so far put the same effort into scripting the Equestria Girls movies as they have the series, and there's the other elephant in the room that suggests this may be heralding the end of the series, but we'll see how it goes.

[Fluttershutter 2,114]

 

Well I'm excited. They've got more time to work on it than an EQG movie so hopefully they'll do a great job. And I may even be able to see it in a theater.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

Well ... this is happening. I have to admit I did fanboy a little. Looked a lot like this. 

 

 

 

Then I saw the writer. Now I am optimistic, but still a little cautious. Now begins the THREE YEAR WAIT! 

 

And yes, they will likely go forward with Season 6 and 7

 

Hype never killed anything Pathfinder.

 

 

Point duly taken. Just be glad Lucas isn't behind this, or Pinkie Pie would be the most hated character in the movie.

[ShyPie 164]

This. Is. Awesome!!   

Now, onto my concerns: When I started reading the article I was fearing that it may end up some horrible CG animation that a lot of 2d stuff tends to go to when going to the big screen, or...live action **shudder**   . But thankfully neither looks a possibility after reading it through. It has to be just ponies, no humans coming into Equestria. Just. Ponies! I'm concerned that they've got someone relatively unheard of within the MLP franchise (and in general) writing this. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Megan write it? Yeah, it's a big undertaking and she's super busy as is, but with a 2017 release date the script wouldn't need to be locked in until at least the start of 2016 so there's definitely time for it.

 

Other than that I just hope it stays true to the show we've all come to know and love and is just fantastic. Know idea what it means for the current Gen though. It could be planned as the big finale, but if it does super well and gets even more people into it then it could actually be the catalyst for the Gen to continue even longer. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Gen transition at least, introducing a minimum of one new character, much like how the Pokemon films would sometimes work as a way of planting the seeds of future characters. In fact, I'm calling it now; the plot will be about a brand new pony who comes to Ponyville and gets caught up with the mane 6 and their quest to save Equestria from some terrible evil and it turns out the new pony has a special gift that helps them in this and they join the main cast from then on.

[Jeric 46,834]

Well, we'll see how this plays out. Part of me dreads it a little, as I don't think they've so far put the same effort into scripting the Equestria Girls movies as they have the series, and there's the other elephant in the room that suggests this may be heralding the end of the series, but we'll see how it goes.

 

That was actually the expectation of a few of us, notably @M'aiq the Liar who mentioned that at least each time a Pony movie thread was made. However, a 3 year development time is typical for full length theatrical releases, and now the previous quarter's meeting promise of five more years sounds more plausible. We saw what can be done with a six month development window with Rainbow Rocks ... and we got really polished animation in that one.

 

The only question that is really raised about the development time is the likelihood that the story will be more akin to a stand alone feature not directly connected to recent storylines in the season that concludes just before it, as the script will likely be written and approved by mid next year. Expect instead something like Duck Tales.  Unless of course, season 5 will conclude the show. 

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,328]

That was actually the expectation of a few of us, notably @M'aiq the Liar who mentioned that at least each time a Pony movie thread was made. However, a 3 year development time is typical for full length theatrical releases, and now the previous quarter's meeting promise of five more years sounds more plausible. We saw what can be done with a six month development window with Rainbow Rocks ... and we got really polished animation in that one.

 

The only question that is really raised about the development time is the likelihood that the story will be more akin to a stand alone feature not directly connected to recent storylines in the season that concludes just before it, as the script will likely be written and approved by mid next year. Expect instead something like Duck Tales. Unless of course, season 5 will conclude the show.

It could be like the Pokemon movies where they're non cannon from the show.

[Jeric 46,834]

It could be like the Pokemon movies where they're non cannon from the show.

 

Also a likely outcome. I mean, they could probably go the Simpson's route and create a movie that didn't reference the most recent seasons in any of the plot or jokes, but it still 'fit' canonically

 

So many thread possibilities on this one.

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,794]

Just two things ...

 

First:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second:

 

As others here and on EqD have already speculated: I also think it'll be the grand finale to FiM and I think it'll be released after the end of season six/seven.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,328]

Another question is if the movie will be in theaters like the equestria girls movies.

 

Also 2017? Wow, that's a long time. The good news is that means the show will still be around for at least 3 more years.

Yes, I could see this being the series finale and, I honestly wouldn't mind that. Ending the show on a movie would make it grand and by that point, I'd say it would've had a good run.

[BrilliantVenture 334]

Wow! Cool news...but am I the only one who has a slight concern that McCarthy is gonna be the Co-Writer? and that the script will be done by a guy in charge who hasn't worked on the show before?...Shoot, if it were ideal, we'd have Faust as Co-Writer/Head Writer, but that'll never happen...Still though, I was hoping we could at least have someone familiar doing the script...even M.A. Larson. (I mean c'mon guys...yeah he did twilicorn, but his other episodes were genius!)

[chirox the pony 1,334]

OMG MLP the movie, come 2017 I'm gonna be an eighteen year old man and I'm gonna go to my local cinema and yell "one ticket for my little pony friendship is magic the movie, for your information my favourite pony is Pinkie Pie, have you got a problem with anything I just said. Yeah I'm pretty exited for this, best part about it is it's going to be created by the current team.

[Jeric 46,834]

Faust as Co-Writer/Head Writer

 

Nah, "Friendship is Magic" was not objectively a great episode. Faust was a much better showrunner than a writer on FiM. I believe that Hasbro wanted to go with a writer familiar with live action pacing since it is different than a television show. I also have some faith that McCarthy and Hasbro will ensure that nothing really ridiculous gets through. Director, Score, and Music are concerns for me. 

[Zekromic 1,054]

A certain rainbow maned tomboy is exited

 

 

[Brony Rebellion X 31]

Out of all the episodes and EQG movies I've watched, I have never ever heard straight from the horse's mouth that Meghan McCarthy has made this possible. This is a HUGE opportunity for them to make this worth while, and all of our movie ideas, I HOPE and pray to God that this doesn't go below our experiences! And do you want to know how I reacted to these news? Here's my instant reaction: