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Rovio, SEGA, and Prime Focus Studios Announce The Angry Birds Movie 3 Is In Production At DNEG Animation

Jason Sudeikis and Josh Gad return to the flock

The Angry Birds Movie franchise has so far grossed
more than $500m at the worldwide box office

LONDON, June 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Rovio Entertainment Corporation, SEGA, and Namit Malhotra’s production company Prime Focus Studios, announced today that they are starting production on The Angry Birds Movie 3, with DNEG Animation attached as animation partner. Prime Focus Studios, Rovio, and SEGA will produce the movie in association with One Cool Group, Flywheel Media, and dentsu.

The third installment in the franchise will follow the continuing adventures of Red and Chuck, voiced once again by Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso, SNL, We’re the Millers) and Josh Gad (Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Gutenberg!, Murder on the Orient Express). Jason Sudeikis is represented by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and TAG. Josh Gad is represented by Sugar 23, CAA and JSSK. More casting news will be coming soon.

The film follows the success of the first two Angry Birds movies, which together have grossed more than $500m at the worldwide box office and have demonstrated fantastic results on streaming platforms, signalling strong demand for the third theatrical installment.

The Angry Birds Movie 3 will be directed by John Rice (Angry Birds, Beavis and Butt–Head Do The Universe). The screenplay will be written by Thurop Van Orman (Angry Birds 2, Adventure Time, Flapjack), who will also executive produce alongside Toru Nakahara (Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Prime, Golden Axe). The film will be produced by John Cohen (Despicable Me, The Garfield Movie, Angry Birds), Dan Chuba (The Mitchells vs. the Machines), and Carla Connor (The Willoughbys).

Returning to the Angry Birds design team is Jeanie Chang as production designer and Francesca Natale as character designer. The head of story is Vadim Bazhanov and the lead editor is Sarah K. Reimers. Storyboards, art development, and animation will be handled by DNEG Animation.

Rovio and SEGA will produce alongside Namit Malhotra and his production company Prime Focus Studios, which recently co–produced The Garfield Movie with Alcon Entertainment. Prime Focus Studios is also currently in production on Animal Friends with Legendary Entertainment and Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort, and Indian epic Ramayana with actor–producer Yash’s Monster Mind Creations.

“The Angry Birds brand knows no bounds, and an all–new Angry Birds adventure underscores how the worlds and narratives crafted in our games can seamlessly transcend into the realm of film and beyond,” said Alexandre Pelletier–Normand, CEO at Rovio Entertainment. “Rovio is fully committed to creating entertainment that sparks imagination across various platforms. We’ve seen continuous success in everything from games and feature films to licensed products and amusement parks, and we are thrilled to return once again to the vibrant Angry Birds world with our new partners.”

“The Angry Birds games are a global phenomenon and the film franchise has enjoyed worldwide success,” added Crosby Clyse, Managing Director of DNEG Animation. “Our amazing DNEG Animation team is thrilled to be teaming up once again with Prime Focus Studios and with our new friends at Rovio to create an all–new high–velocity adventure set in this colourful, crazy world.”

“Innovation is part of dentsu’s DNA and we are always looking for new and exciting projects to deliver differentiated, integrated growth opportunities for our clients. We believe in the positive impact of entertainment, creating meaningful connections between people and brands,” commented Jean Lin, Global President – Global Practices, dentsu. “We are so proud to partner with Prime Focus Studios and DNEG Animation to help bring the next installment of the beloved global Angry Birds franchise to life.”

“The Angry Birds brand truly reflects the size and scale of content Flywheel Media are focusing on,” said Don McGregor, Founder and CEO, Flywheel Media. “We are thrilled to be joining forces with such incredible partners to deliver this film to audiences around the world.”

The Angry Birds Movie opened at #1 in 50 countries on its release in 2016 and has grossed more than $350m at the worldwide box office. Rovio’s mobile games surpassed 5 billion downloads in 2022.

“We are thrilled to announce that the brand–new film of the globally beloved and successful Angry Birds franchise is to be in production,” said Shuji Utsumi, President and COO at SEGA. “SEGA has been focusing on its Transmedia strategy to advance the value of its intellectual properties (IP) across games and diverse media landscapes. We believe that the upcoming The Angry Birds Movie 3 perfectly aligns with our strategy and presents a great opportunity for us to bring the charm of the Angry Birds brand to fans across the globe.”

“I’m delighted to be partnering with Rovio, SEGA, One Cool, Flywheel, dentsu, and the incredible team of returning filmmakers and voice talent on this movie. It’s an honour to be part of the next chapter in the amazing Angry Birds story,” concluded Producer Namit Malhotra. “Prime Focus Studios is in production on an impressive roster of high–profile features and I am excited that The Angry Birds Movie 3 will be the next big animated project on our slate after The Garfield Movie.”

Angry Birds and all related properties, titles, logos, and characters are trademarks of Rovio Entertainment Corporation and are used with permission. All Rights Reserved.

About Prime Focus Studios
Led by filmmaker and Global CEO of DNEG, Namit Malhotra, Prime Focus Studios is an independent production company dedicated to the creation of innovative and exciting global content.

Prime Focus Studios, which recently co–produced The Garfield Movie with Alcon Entertainment for Sony Pictures, is currently in production on three major motion pictures: Indian epic Ramayana with Rocking Star Yash’s Monster Mind Creations; Animal Friends with Legendary Entertainment and Ryan Reynolds’ production company Maximum Effort; and The Angry Birds Movie 3, with Rovio Entertainment Corporation and SEGA.

About Rovio
Rovio Entertainment Corporation is a global mobile–first games company that creates, develops and publishes mobile games, which have been downloaded over 5 billion times. Rovio is best known for the global Angry Birds brand, which started as a popular mobile game in 2009, and has since evolved from games to various entertainment, animations, and consumer products in brand licensing. Rovio has produced The Angry Birds Movie (2016), and its sequel, The Angry Birds Movie 2 was released in 2019. The company offers multiple mobile games and has seven game studios – one in Espoo (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Barcelona (Spain), Montreal and Toronto (Canada), as well as a subsidiary in Izmir (Turkey) called Ruby Games. Most of the employees are based in Finland, where Rovio is headquartered. Rovio is owned by SEGA.

About DNEG Animation
DNEG Animation is a world–class animation studio that creates captivating stories and compelling characters through beautiful animation. Built on the passion and talents of our team, we help bring unique worlds to life. From complex graphic novel adaptations to beautifully stylized films, we are dedicated to furthering the craft of animation. Recent and upcoming projects on behalf of our filmmaking partners include The Garfield Movie, The Angry Birds Movie 3, The Cat In The Hat, That Christmas, Nimona, Under the Boardwalk, Entergalactic, and Ron’s Gone Wrong.

DNEG Animation is part of DNEG (www.dneg.com), a world–leading visual entertainment services company for the creation of feature film, television, multiplatform content, and immersive experiences, with worldwide offices and studios across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

About One Cool Group
Pioneered and led by Hong Kong actor and producer Louis Koo in 2013, One Cool Group has evolved from a local film production company to a major player in Asia and beyond. One Cool’s motto, “Thrive through Creativity. Strive for Diversity”, unites a fast–growing team of more than 300 film professionals based at its Hong Kong headquarters and affiliated offices in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea. A diversified portfolio encompasses all aspects of filmmaking from financing, artist management, casting, editing, sound effects, visual production, to distribution, promotions, and more. One Cool collaborates in global feature films, partnering with Sony Pictures Animation on Vivo and the Oscar–nominated The Mitchells vs. the Machines, with Alcon Entertainment on The Garfield Movie, and with independent film producers. One Cool is forging ahead with pioneering AI techniques in various aspects of filmmaking.

Find out more:
www.onecool.com

About dentsu
Dentsu is an integrated growth and transformation partner to the world’s leading organizations. Founded in 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, and now present in over 145 countries and regions, it has a proven track record of nurturing and developing innovations, combining the talents of its global network of leadership brands to develop impactful and integrated growth solutions for clients. Dentsu delivers end–to–end experience transformation (EX) by integrating its services across Media, CXM and Creative, while its business transformation (BX) mindset pushes the boundaries of transformation and sustainable growth for brands, people and society.

Dentsu, Innovating to Impact.

Find out more:
www.dentsu.com
www.group.dentsu.com

About Flywheel
Flywheel Media is a new film company collaborating with the world’s largest brands, harnessing their storytelling power to engage new and existing fans.

We create movies for the big screen designed to entertain and inspire audiences globally.

Find out more:
www.flywheelmedia.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b0e8e84d–15de–4b97–90bc–e012be6016dd

A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://youtu.be/8RGho3YHbGg


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 1000964990)

Innovating to Impact: Dentsu Unveils New Global Brand Proposition Drawing Upon 120 Year Heritage

TOKYO, May 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dentsu, today announced the launch of its new global, client–facing, brand proposition, “Innovating to Impact”, marking a significant milestone in the company's storied 120–year plus history. The new go–to–market brand encapsulates dentsu's commitment to driving growth through innovation, leveraging the collective strengths of transformative creativity, media, data, and technology.

Created through a collaborative effort of many dentsu teams around the world, “Innovating to Impact” reflects dentsu's dedication to delivering outcomes that not only drive business growth but also generate a positive effect on people, society and the world.

“Our new branding is a bold declaration of our unwavering commitment to innovate in pursuit of outcomes on behalf of our clients,” said Hiroshi Igarashi, President & Global CEO, dentsu. “At dentsu, we are not content with simply following trends; we aim to set them. 'Innovating to Impact' is our promise to our clients, our incredible people and the communities we serve, that we will continue to push the boundaries of what's possible through experience and business transformation.”

The launch is the next stage in dentsu’s mid to long–term strategy and its positioning as an integrated growth and transformation partner to the world’s leading organizations. Dentsu brings the best of both worlds to clients: individual global leadership brands that can deliver deep expertise, and the ability to tie those services together to deliver a multiplier effect for clients as dentsu.

A Dentsu Creative team, headed by Riccardo Fregoso, Chief Creative Officer Dentsu Creative Italy, led development of the tagline “Innovating to Impact”, along with a new brand manifesto. The design look and feel of the new brand was produced by the multi–award winning Dentsu Inc. team in dentsu Japan, led by Executive Creative Director, Yoshihiro Yagi, one of Japan’s most internationally awarded, art–based creatives.

“For over 120 years, innovation has been a core tenet of dentsu’s offering; it is in our DNA and within the very culture of our teams around the world. Innovation for dentsu is both an open mindset as well as a systematic approach, helping clients approach their business transformation in new ways,” commented Jean Lin, Global President – Global Practices, dentsu. “Dentsu is truly unique in the market, sitting at the convergence of marketing, technology and consulting. When we combine innovation with a laser focus on driving outcomes, we bring together the best of our capabilities to deliver integrated growth for brands who want something different from the traditional model.”

Dentsu's new brand will be further showcased at the Cannes Lions Festival in June 2024, with dentsu Beach House programming and design reflecting the principles and positioning of “Innovating to Impact”.

For more information about dentsu and the new GTM brand, please visit: Innovating to Impact

Team credits:

Dentsu Creative Italy

Riccardo Fregoso, Chief Creative Officer
Stefano Battistelli, Executive Creative Director
Francesco Epifani, Executive Creative Director
Cristiana Bregni, Art Director
Santiago Cancela, Copywriter

Dentsu Inc., Japan

Yoshihiro Yagi, Executive Creative Director
Tsubasa Adachi, Creative Director
Haruko Tsutsui, Creative Director
Hiroyuki Kato, Art Director
Natsuki Tomoda, Art Director
Miyuki Ito, Copywriter
Mariko Fukuoka, Copywriter
Shintaro Murakami, Digital Technologist

About dentsu

Dentsu is an integrated growth and transformation partner to the world’s leading organizations. Founded in 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, and now present in over 145 countries and regions, it has a proven track record of nurturing and developing innovations, combining the talents of its global network of leadership brands to develop impactful and integrated growth solutions for clients. Dentsu delivers end–to–end experience transformation (EX) by integrating its services across Media, CXM and Creative, while its business transformation (BX) mindset pushes the boundaries of transformation and sustainable growth for brands, people and society.

Dentsu, Innovating to Impact.

Find out more:

www.dentsu.com
www.group.dentsu.com

Contact: 

Matt Cross
Email: matt.cross@dentsu.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: 

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0b229c64–e587–4c92–80d2–8fb28b25ff1f


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 1000951315)

Dentsu Appoints Shirli Zelcer to Chief Data and Technology Officer

TOKYO, March 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dentsu (brand: dentsu; Head Office: Dentsu Group Inc.; Location: Tokyo; Representative: President and Global CEO Hiroshi Igarashi) today announced the appointment of Shirli Zelcer as Chief Data and Technology Officer (CDTO), sitting on dentsu’s Group Management Team. In this role, Zelcer will be responsible for all of dentsu’s client–facing data–driven, analytics and technology–enabled products and platforms, driving innovation and sustainable growth for clients.

Dentsu also announced today that Steve Simpson has been appointed as President, Data, Audiences and Technology, dentsu and Shiva Vannavada as President, Data and Technology Solutions, dentsu. Simpson will join the Global Media Practice leadership team to support the development of a winning Media Practice community that delivers continued excellence in its offering to clients, driving client growth and transformation. In his newly created role, Simpson will be responsible for the strategic planning and delivery of a globally–scaled, data–driven and technology–enabled audience platform that drives growth for clients, while Vannavada will focus on creating synergies across product and platforms, AI innovation, analytics and across Dentsu Global Services (DGS).  

Zelcer brings over 20 years of experience in analytics and insights, business advisory and organizational design, AI and data science, and cloud and marketing technologies. She was most recently the Global Head of Analytics and Technology at Merkle, where she led a global division of over 5,600 practitioners across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. In her new role at dentsu, Zelcer will be responsible to innovate the vision, roadmap, development and commercial impact of dentsu's data and tech strategy across our three core practice areas: Media, CXM and Creative, working closer with Practice leads and Jean Lin, Global President – Global Practices, dentsu. The role will lead a newly formed team brought together from these Practice areas to drive consistency, interoperability and ultimately to deliver growth to dentsu’s clients through more unified capabilities. 

Joining from Publicis, in his new role, Simpson will lead a global team of experts from across data management, identity, personalization, media activation and dynamic creative production, and partner with dentsu’s global products and platforms team to integrate and scale the platform across dentsu’s Global Practices.

Simpson will also be accountable for evolving dentsu’s global media delivery platform. Enabled by programmatic media delivery, enriched with 1st, 2nd and 3rd party data, it will leverage dentsu’s leading Merkury products suite to drive client competitiveness. 

Having previously served as Global Chief Product and Technology Officer, dentsu Solutions, Vannavada’s expanded responsibilities as President, Data and Technology Solutions will include driving cross–practice and product collaboration, nurturing dentsu’s AI Connective community and leading his team to contribute to tech–enabled solutions and strategy. 

“Innovation across data and technology are two of dentsu’s most critical points of differentiation, having led the market for many years in the development, adoption and application of proprietary platforms which give our clients the edge,” said Hiroshi Igarashi, President and Global CEO, dentsu. “We are very proud to appoint Shirli, Steve and Shiva into these new strategic roles which bring together our efforts across the organization, honing our capabilities and ensuring that dentsu and our clients remain at the forefront of innovation.”

The leadership of the broader Data and Tech organization at dentsu includes: Head of Product, Matt Seeley, and Sunil Rao leading Analytics, and Peter Rogers leading Data Platforms. DGS will also now report into Zelcer’s Data and Technology structure and in turn, Zelcer will report into Michael Komasinski, CEO, dentsu Americas & Global President – Data & Technology, dentsu. 

Quotes: 

“During her time at Merkle, Shirli brought together teams from around the world to collaborate on vital programs, ranging from data infrastructure implementation to advanced media mix modeling, personalization strategies and the development of bespoke AI solutions,” commented Michael Komasinski, CEO, dentsu Americas & Global President – Data & Technology, dentsu. “With her vast experience of successfully partnering with clients, alongside a proven ability to solve business challenges with cutting–edge technology solutions, I'm truly excited to see the impact that Shirli will have in her new expanded global role at dentsu.” 

“It is a very exciting prospect to move into this new role at a time when not only is dentsu at a pivotal moment in its history, but data and technology have never evolved at a faster pace,” remarked Shirli Zelcer, Chief Data and Technology Officer, dentsu. “As a group, we have already made some big moves into AI over the last few years, but I truly see the combination of AI with dentsu proprietary and partner technologies as a major differentiator for our clients. I’m looking forward to broadening the impact I can have across dentsu and working closely with the talented leaders and teams across our tech community.”

Steve Simpson, President, Data, Audiences and Technology, dentsu, said: “I am thrilled to join dentsu at this exciting time of transformation and innovation. Data and technology are at the heart of the media industry and the integrated opportunity across Practices at dentsu in vast. I look forward to working with the talented teams throughout dentsu to build a world–class platform that will deliver value and innovation for our clients, helping them achieve their business goals.” 

Shiva Vannavada, President, Data and Technology Solutions, dentsu, commented: “Since I began my journey at dentsu, we have been actively planning our future with AI and I am excited to take on this new expanded remit as we enter into what will undoubtedly be a transformational year for AI and the products and solutions we build using it. At dentsu, we don’t consider AI as a standalone technology, it is part of the fabric of our data, technology and product capabilities, ingrained into every practice and present in every agency brand. This makes us naturally more collaborative, more integrated and faster to market for our clients, and I look forward to working with teams across dentsu to break new ground in what is possible across data and tech for our clients.” 

About dentsu  

Dentsu is the network designed for what’s next, helping clients predict and plan for disruptive future opportunities and create new paths to growth in the sustainable economy. Taking a people–centered approach to business transformation, we use insights to connect brand, content, commerce and experience, underpinned by modern creativity. As part of Dentsu Group Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004), we are headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and our 71,000–strong employee base of dedicated professionals work across four regions (Japan, Americas, EMEA and APAC). Dentsu combines Japanese innovation with a diverse, global perspective to drive client growth and to shape society.

https://www.dentsu.com/  
https://www.group.dentsu.com/en/ 

Contact:

Matt Cross
Phone: +442074306319
Email: matt.cross@dentsu.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cf533a57–ac1f–4ad2–87e5–340b90ec6957


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 1000927842)