Last Week in Animation: May 29th

Welcome to Overly Animated’s Last Week in Animation! This is a recurring series where we aggregate the news items most relevant to fans of the shows we cover regularly, as well as interesting tidbits on other animated television and film projects.

Star vs. The Forces of Evil Returns in July

On Friday morning, Disney XD released the first teaser for the third season of their currently most popular property, which will kick off with a four-episode event titled “The Battle For Mewni”. That event will air on Saturday, July 15, with another block of season 3 episodes airing over the fall. You can find more information on the event and analysis of the teaser on Overly Animated.

“Wanted”: Your Eyes on Cartoon Network Monday Night

Steven Universe will return on Monday night after a crazy cliffhanger was left on “I Am My Mom” earlier this month. “Stuck Together”, the first episode of the “Wanted” event, has already been made available on the CN app to whet the appetites of rabid SU fans. Unfortunately, as is the usual cycle for Cartoon Network’s most rabid online fanbase, leaks from the remaining episodes have spread far and wide, and have been deemed some of the most damaging in the show’s history. (No, I’m not bitter at all about three different people private messaging me “Lars’ Head” details.) In any case, we are bound to get some huge developments in this four-episode block following Steven and Lars to Homeworld to face judgment. “Stuck Together”, “The Trial”, “Off Colors” and “Lars’ Head” will air in one huge block on Cartoon Network Monday, May 28 at 7 PM ET.

As a side note, one of the few shareable news items to come out of the leaks was that Madeline Queripel was credited as a storyboarder on “Lars’ Head”, paired with Jeff Liu. Queripel was a long time storyboard artist and writer on Regular Show, including the show’s finale that just aired this year. While Amber Cragg was promoted to the role of storyboard artist from her post of storyboard revisionist, Queripel may actually end up being the person who was hired to replace the recently departed Lauren Zuke.

Flapjack and Rick & Morty Influencing Angry Birds?

The Angry Birds Movie 2 now has a release date: September 20, 2019, which coincides with the 10^th anniversary of the original mobile game. More interestingly, the movie will be co-directed by Thurop von Orman and John Rice. von Orman, after getting his start as a storyboarder on the original Powerpuff Girls, created the influential Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, which kickstarted the careers of other important show creators, including Adventure Time’s Pendleton Ward, Regular Show’s J.G. Quintel and Gravity Falls’ Alex Hirsch. (Side note: von Orman also voiced Li’l Gideon on Hirsch’s show.) von Orman has been out of animation since Flapjack, so it’ll be interesting to see what influence he has over the humor in this sequel. As for Rice, he has a longer career in animation, doing storyboard work for The Simpsons and The Critic in the 1990s. More recently, he directed three Season 1 episodes of Rick & Morty, including the excellent “Something Ricked This Way Comes”, which follows Summer’s employment with a shady pawn shop owner. [Deadline Hollywood]

The Latest Greenlights

• A Castlevania animated series based on the classic video game has been announced by Netflix, and will premiere on the streaming service July 7. The first season, which features blood in the teaser trailer, will consist of four 30-minute episodes. Netflix has also already picked up the second season, expected to come out in 2018. [Animation Magazine]
• In the most not shocking news of the year, Nickelodeon has greenlit SpongeBob Squarepants for a 12^th season, expected to premiere in 2019 in time for the 20^th anniversary of the series. Due to somewhat inconsistent scheduling in the past couple of years, season 11 has not even begun airing yet. But Nickelodeon will squeeze the yellow sponge for all he’s worth. [Deadline Hollywood]
• The Ben 10 reboot has been greenlit for a second season by Cartoon Network. The show will also get a new console game as part of the deal. [Animation Magazine]

Other News and Notes

• HBO has officially announced that satirist Jon Stewart’s animated shorts project is now dead. HBO and Stewart announced in late 2015 that they were working on animated shorts to go along with the 2016 election, but “there were technical issues in terms of production,” according to an HBO statement. [The New York Times]
• Conrad Vernon, most recently a co-director on the Seth Rogen adult animation Sausage Party, has been brought onto Warner Animation Group’s project to get a Jetsons animated film off the ground. This particular effort has been going on since the late 1990s, with eclectic names attached such as Robert Rodriguez and Kanye West in the past. Vernon also has Shrek 2, Monsters vs. Aliens and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted under his directorial belt. [Hollywood Reporter]
• The Boss Baby is getting a sequel after making over $450 million worldwide. The sequel is tentatively scheduled for March 26, 2021, with Alec Baldwin back on board. All hope is lost. [Cartoon Brew]
• And finally, in this edition of Weird Animation of the Week, here’s a deleted scene from Gravity Falls‘ “Weirdmageddon” finale that was released last week, with appearances from Jason Ritter (Dipper) and Linda Cardellini (Wendy).