Toon trio starts Frederator

Company aims to animate 2-D genre films

By DAVE MCNARY

A trio of toon veterans are launching Frederator Films as an indie feature film company with a mission to produce 2-D animated genre movies budgeted below $20 million.

Fred Seibert's partnered with Kevin Kolde and Eric Gardner, with all three acting as producers on the projects. Seibert's the former president of Hanna-Barbera and longtime producer via Frederator Studios, which debuted a decade ago with "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" for Cartoon Network; that show spun off "Cow & Chicken," "Powerpuff Girls" and "Dexter's Laboratory," and Frederator followed with "The Fairly OddParents," "ChalkZone" and "My Life as a Teenage Robot" for Nickelodeon.

Kolde ran Spumco, the banner of John Kricfalusi ("Ren & Stimpy"), for more than a decade, while Gardner is the topper at Panacea Entertainment, a talent management and production company with clients including Donny Osmond, Richard Belzer, Paul Shaffer, the Sex Pistols, Elvira and members of the Rolling Stones.

Seibert told Daily Variety that the new banner can take advantage of 21st century technology to develop offbeat content into feature films.

"Fred is the master at identifying voids in the marketplace and filling them with paradigm-shifting content," Gardner said. "There has been a dearth of both 2-D and genre animated feature product, which Frederator Films will be rectifying." Pics will be aimed at young males.

First projects from the shingle:

• "Samurai Jack," a feature version of the Cartoon Network skein. The creator, Genndy Tartakovsky, is attached to write and direct.

• "The Neverhood," a claymation feature based on the DreamWorks videogame of the same name. Doug TenNapel, who created the game, is aboard to write and direct.

• "The Seven Deadly Sins," a hip-hop project with Don King hired as the first voice actor.