First Look character images and teaser poster revealed for The Amazing Maurice
First Look character images and teaser poster revealed for The Amazing Maurice
Coming in 2022 to Sky Cinema and streaming service NOW
Character images and teaser poster available on SEAC here
Sky today reveals First Look character images and teaser poster for The Amazing Maurice, a Sky Original to mark the 20th Anniversary of the book by Sir Terry Pratchett.
This animated family film is based on the wildly popular Discworld ® novels and will star Hugh Laurie (Avenue 5) as Maurice, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Malicia, David Thewlis (Wonder Woman) as Boss Man, Himesh Patel (Yesterday) as Keith, Gemma Arterton (The King’s Man) as Peaches, Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) as The Mayor, David Tennant (Doctor Who) as Dangerous Beans, Ariyon Bakare (His Dark Materials) as Darktan, Rob Brydon (Roald & Beatrix: The Tale of the Curious Mouse) as The Pied Piper, Julie Atherton (Avenue Q) as Nourishing and YouTuber Joe Sugg as Sardines.
In The Amazing Maurice, a Sky Original, Maurice is a streetwise ginger cat who comes up with a money-making scam by befriending a group of self-taught talking rats. When Maurice and the rodents reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, they meet a bookworm called Malicia and their little con soon goes down the drain.
The film is co-produced by Sky, Ulysses Filmproduktion and Cantilever Media in partnership with Global Screen, with animation studios Studio Rakete (Hamburg) and Red Star Animation (Sheffield). The film has the full support of the Terry Pratchett estate and is produced in association with Narrativia. Producers are Julia Stuart (Sky), Emely Christians (Ulysses), Andrew Baker and Robert Chandler (Cantilever Media) and Rob Wilkins (Narrativia). The Film is directed by Toby Genkel, co-director is Florian Westermann, from a screenplay by Terry Rossio.
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a children’s fantasy by Sir Terry Pratchett, published by Doubleday in 2001, who and has sold nearly 100 million books worldwide. It was the 28th novel in the Discworld ® series, but the first written for children. The Amazing Maurice is a lively and entertaining adventure inspired by the German fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamelin and a parody of the folk tale genre. Pratchett won the annual Carnegie Medal for the book – children’s literature’s highest award. Despite many other awards, honorary degrees and the knighthood that followed, Sir Terry Pratchett always emphasised that this was the award of which he was most proud.
The Amazing Maurice, a Sky Original will be released on Sky Cinema in 2022. The film will also be available on streaming service NOW via the Sky Cinema Membership.
Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films, with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivalled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library.
For further information please contact:
Sky
Mark Pitchford
mark.pitchford@sky.uk
DDA
Vicky Tupper
Vicky.Tupper@ddapr.com
Naomi Meanwell
Naomi.Meanwell@ddapr.com
Notes to Editors
About Sky
Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of Comcast Corporation. Across six countries, we connect our 23 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.
Following the launch of Sky Glass, we now offer customers our strongest ever line-up of products and services. As well as the new streaming TV with Sky inside and everything integrated, customers can enjoy the award-winning Sky Q with all your favourite channels and apps in one place, and with Sky Go you can now access an even better experience on your devices. Sky TV has new channels, new shows and new deals with Peacock, Paramount+ and more. Sky Mobile was voted Best Pay Monthly and Best Value Pay Monthly network by Uswitch, and with Sky Broadband we’re offering our fastest speeds yet.
Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, Sky Arts is the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivalled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library.
We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26 – the UN Climate Change Conference. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity, and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation. We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over the next three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.
About NOW
NOW is the home of brilliant entertainment. We’re one of the UK’s leading streaming platforms with critically acclaimed shows, new and exclusive movies, unmissable sport and epic kids TV – all with no contract. Join in with an Entertainment, Cinema, Sports, Kids or hayu Membership to stream instantly across TV, mobile, desktop and over 60 other devices. Watch on the go and even offline with our app by downloading shows and movies.
Entertainment Members can enjoy critically acclaimed dramas, documentaries and comedies, Emmy award-winning shows, the best of HBO and exclusive Sky Originals. Cinema Members can discover over 1000 brilliant movies, from the latest blockbusters and classic favourites and a new premiere every day. Sports Members cheer on unmissable Premier League, international cricket, F1, golf and more – all live, across 11 Sky Sports channels.
Plus, members can enhance their experience with NOW Boost – that’s full 1080p HD, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and streaming on up to 3 devices at once, for an extra £3 a month.
For super-fast broadband, members can enjoy a contract-free connection with a NOW Brilliant Broadband, Fab Fibre or Super Fibre Membership.
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About ULYSSES FILMPRODUKTION
Ulysses Filmproduktion, one of the most active European production companies of high-quality and commercially successful animation films, is based in Hamburg, Germany. The company developed and produced the world wide sold 3D animated films “Ooops! Noah is gone...” (aka “Two by Two”, “All Creatures Big and Small”) and “Luis & The Aliens” which was also picked up by Warner UK. The feature films sold worldwide and were huge box office successes in many territories. The sequel “Ooops!2” (aka “Two by Two – Overboard”) was released in the UK and Germany in 2020, with releases to follow in the US, Australia/New Zealand, France and Russia. More Features and a TV Series with global exploitation potential are in the development pipeline.
www.ulyssesfilms.de
About CANTILEVER MEDIA
Cantilever Media is based in Ireland and the UK and produces animated feature films and television series as well as documentary features. It produced the feature documentary “The United Way” featuring Eric Cantona, and also produced the award winning feature documentary “I am Duran”. The Amazing Maurice is the company’s first animation feature production and further animated and live action projects for film and television are currently in development.
About NARRATIVIA
Narrativia is the independent production company launched in 2012 by Sir Terry Pratchett. The company owns and controls the exclusive multimedia and merchandising rights to all of Sir Terry’s works, including his Discworld characters and creations. The company is headed by Managing Director Rob Wilkins and celebrated writer Rhianna Pratchett.
In 2019 Narrativia saw the release of the acclaimed television series, GOOD OMENS with Amazon Studios and BBC Studios, starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, and based on the internationally bestselling novel by Sir Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. In 2020 Narrativia announced a new partnership with Motive Pictures and Endeavor Content to develop a definitive Discworld screen universe and and 2021 saw the announcement of the animated production THE AMAZING MAURICE with Ulysses Filmproduktion and Cantilever Media, starring Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke and David Tennant. November 2021 will see the commencement of a year-long celebration commemorating fifty years of Terry Pratchett as a published author, the launch of animated Christmas special The Abominable Snow Baby and filming of a second season of Good Omens.
About SIR TERRY PRATCHETT
Sir Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global best-selling Discworld series and during his lifetime became Britain’s best-selling adult author. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the Carnegie Medal for “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” and went on to receive multiple literary awards, ten honorary doctorates and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.
