Each night, when Ben falls asleep, his Crayons jump into their magical Crayon Box that transports them to their home in Color City, a world of dazzling hues, soaring fantasy and the whimsy of childhood. This land is fed by an enchanted rainbow and waterfall that provides the City and its citizens with color.
When YELLOW, our timid heroine, is accidentally left behind in Ben’s room, she inadvertently awakens two Unfinished Drawings: KING SCRAWL, a huge, powerful, mute monster — and GNAT, Scrawl’s motor-mouthed, overactive sidekick. In search of color for themselves, they follow Yellow to Color City, causing panic and concern. If Scrawl and Gnat can claim the waterfall for themselves, Color City will fade, and along with it, our lovable crayon characters will disappear.
It’s up to Yellow and a motley crew of Crayons, bodacious and brave, BLUE, meticulous, fussy GREEN, satirical RED, pessimistic BLACK and overanxious WHITE to save the day. Meeting with fantastical creatures and fun adventures along the way, Yellow discovers she has more courage and strength than she knew and learns to believe in herself and to count on the support of her friends. Replete with valuable life lessons, this enchanting story will entertain and inspire in a stunningly rendered and utterly unique animated world.
About the Production
The Hero of Color City is an original production by Exodus Film Group. Founded in 2001 by John D. Eraklis and Delbert Whetter, the Venice, CA based company started out doing VFX and work for hire engagements while searching for original IP to produce.
The Hero of Color City was brought to John by his college friend Mick McCormick. John and Mick were good friends in the theater department at the University of Rhode Island. Mick hounded John to read a script written by his brother about a box of crayons that came to life.
The script sat on the shelf unread for several months but Micks persistence finally convinced John to read the draft. To his pleasant surprise, it was fun and well-written with great characters and witty dialogue and a heartfelt message about the power of a child’s imagination.
It was about this time that John had partnered with seasoned animation veteran Max Howard on the animated feature, Igor. Max shared John’s enthusiasm for the film but felt it could use the benefit of some additional writers. After several different teams of writers, John felt the script was strong enough to begin to approach distributors. It was around this time that Magnolia began making waves in the motion picture distribution space with its groundbreaking day-and-date release model by releasing content in theaters and on VOD/home video simultaneously.
Considering The Hero of Color City is geared to a very young audience, Magnolia’s day-and-date release model was particularly appealing. Many of these younger kids aren’t ready to sit through a feature length film in the theaters and, even if they do, they want to watch the film again almost immediately. Exodus knew that by partnering with Magnolia they could allow parents to access the film on multiple platforms almost immediately.
John brought the project to Tom Quinn and Eamonn Bowles in Cannes of 2006 and they jumped onboard. It was on the flight home from that Cannes that John overheard a young actress talking to a fellow passenger and thought “that’s our Yellow!” It was Christina Ricci. Soon after arriving back in Los Angeles, she accepted the role.
After a false start with production in 2008, the film resumed in earnest in the fall of 2012. Exodus had partnered with an up and coming Indian based animation studio called Toonz. Although this was to be their first US theatrical feature, Toonz had demonstrated the ability to deliver high quality animation. This, coupled with the addition of animation veteran Frank Gladstone as director, assured the look of the film would be of the highest caliber for a movie geared towards a younger audience.
The next challenge would be the music. Original songs and score play and integral part in animation and The Hero of Color City is no exception. John’s close friend and world-renowned composer Basil Poledouris had passed away, leaving a void in the production. It was at this time that Exodus reached out to Basil’s daughter, Zoë Poledouris-Roché, and her husband Angel Roché Jr. Zoe had been working with her father since she was a child. At the age of 9, one of her melodies was featured in the film Conan the Barbarian. However this would be the first time that Zoë and Angel would be entrusted with a theatrical feature. They rose to the challenge, and the score and original songs for this film are nothing short of fantastic.
In keeping with Exodus’ tradition of partnering with philanthropic organizations and missions in connection with its animated films, John joined with Sheila Michail Morovati, founder of the Crayon Collection, to promote and raise awareness of the Crayon Collection’s global initiative to repurpose and donate gently used crayons to elementary schools and organizations that help children in need.
Owen Wilson and Jessica Capshaw, supporters of the Crayon Collection, lent their voices to characters in the film and appear in a special PSA that Exodus / Toonz produced to benefit the charity that will appear at the end of the film and in marketing initiatives, with the hopes of raising national awareness and to further expand the program across the country.
The Hero of Color City
Directed by: Frank Gladstone
Starring: Christina Ricci, Owen Wilson, Rosie Perez, Elizabeth Daily, Jessica Capshaw, Tara Strong
Screenplay by: Jess Kedward, J.P. McCormick
Production Design by: Philip A. Cruden
Animation Department; Erin Humiston
Editorial Department: Josh Gladstone
Music Department: Erik Brena
Music by: Zoë Poledouris, Angel Roché Jr.
MPAA Rating: G for all audiences.
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: October 3, 2014
Visits: 80
