Dragonlance DVD, Jesus Buy Poster

Today's a slow day in Animation Land, so here are a couple of tidbits to keep you from suffering withdrawal symptoms.

The first piece concerns a story I've been following from my first month at Suite 101, while the other concerns a nifty bit of artwork for an upcoming documentary.

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight DVD Artwork

Paramount has been busy adapting Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance: Chronicles series and DVD Active managed to snag a release date and DVD artwork. The first movie in their trilogy, Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, comes to DVD on January 15, 2008. It stars the voices of Kiefer Sutherland (24), Lucy Lawless (Battlestar Galactica) and Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), among others. Alan Meugniot (The Real Ghostbusters) is in the director's chair.

Paramount had originally slated Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight as a late-summer of 2007 theatrical release. Ominously, the flick was downgraded to the September 'dump' period and has now been turned into a direct-to-DVD release for the post-Christmas 'dump' period. This isn't looking good for the DVD's chances, but certainly all those fans who put Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (Weis and Hickman's return to Dragonlance country) on the New York Times bestseller list will give this DVD a shot.

Shout Out to Larry Elmore

Long-time fans of the original novels will notice that the cover art and character rendering has a definite Larry Elmore feel to it (Elmore being the artist who did the original Dragonlance: Chronicles novel covers back in the 1980's). The DVD shows (from top to bottom) ranger Tanis Half-Elven brandishing his sword, wizard Raistlin Majere casting a spell, and cleric Goldmoon looking like she's about to belt somebody with her staff. A villainous red dragon circles the three characters, preparing to bite Tanis' kneecap. The only major criticism is that Raistlin's jaw looks unhinged, and that Tanis' hands on his sword look a little strange (to be fair, hands are the toughest body part for an artist to render).

You can check out the cover art in all its glory by clicking here.

What Would Jesus Buy? Poster

This isn't for an animated film, but the poster, courtesy of the good folks at International Poster Awards, is an absolute hoot. It's for the upcoming film What Would Jesus Buy?, a documentary produced by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and directed by Rob VanAlkemade. It examines the increasing commercialization of Christmas and highlights the antics of Reverend Billy (real name Bill Talen) of the Church of Stop Shopping. It was an Official Selection for both the SXSW Film Festival and the Hot Docs Film Festival.

The poster shows a certain Santa-hatted Disney icon mouse-trapped by an American Express card. The script for the movie title is very similar to the Walt Disney slogan that appears on many movies. Indeed, the movie apparently culminates in a visit by the Reverend Billy to Disneyland in order to perform a corporate exorcism.

Without any further information to go on (there's not much info either online or at the official site), I'm guessing that this poster is the work of New York artist Ron English, or someone who is heavily influenced by him. English is legendary for his anti-corporate paintings (he produced a spoof of a McDonald's ad with the slogan "Super size my thighs"), and Spurlock once called him "an artistic genius."

What Would Jesus Buy? comes out in limited release on November 16th. You can check out the full-size poster by clicking here.

Dragonlance DVD cover

What Would Jesus Buy? poster

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