Film Music Reporter has learned that composer Theodore Shapiro will make his animation scoring debut on the upcoming film The Pirates! Band of Misfits. The film’s story follows the fortunes of a cheerful but hapless pirate band as they cross the seven seas in search of adventure. The Aardman Animations-produced movie is directed by Peter Lord who is best known for his collaborations with Nick Park on the Wallace & Gromit series and the 2000 feature film Chicken Run, which he co-directed alongside Park. More recently, he also produced the Aardman Animations production Flushed Away and is involved in the upcoming animated film Arthur Christmas, which has Michael Giacchino attached to write the music. The Pirates! is co-directed by Jeff Newitt who previously worked as an animator on Aardman’s Chicken Run and Flushed Away. Not much is known about he project at this point, but it has been announced that The Pirates! will be created with the hand-crafted claymation/stop-motion technique that Aardman is known for and that the movie will be released in 3D. For some pictures showing props and sets, as well as several sketches from the movie, visit Bleeding Cool. The film is currently scheduled to be released on March 30, 2012 by Sony Pictures.
The news comes shortly after our announcement that Shapiro has also been tapped to score David Dobkin’s comedy the Change-Up starring Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman and Olivia Wilde. Visit our news article to find out more about the composer’s other upcoming projects.
