"All of us who worked on this movie are proud parents of this new character," said producer Todd Lieberman (right, with producer David Hoberman) about the puppet Walter, who appears as a superfan of the Muppets.
Disney has re-upped its first-look deal with Mandeville Films, the shingle run by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.
The new contract is for three years. By the time that term ends, Mandeville will have been with the studio for 20 years; Hoberman, who began his career at Disney as an exec in 1985, will have had an association with the studio for 30.
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For Disney, Mandeville produced last year’s hit film The Muppets, which starred Jason Segel and Amy Adams and won a best song Oscar.
Other recent hits for the studio include The Proposal, the Sandra Bullock–Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy that grossed $317 worldwide, as well as Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
Hoberman and Lieberman also produced The Fighter, the boxing drama starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. The movie earned multiple Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won for best supporting actor (Bale) and best supporting actress (Melissa Leo).
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At Disney, Mandeville is in active development on a Muppets sequel and the feature version of the popular Disney Channel cartoon Phineas and Ferb.
The company has two movies in the can: the Relativity comedy 21 and Over, which was written by The Hangover scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore and stars Miles Teller, and Lionsgate/Summit’s zombie romance Warm Bodies, directed by Jonathan Levine and starring Nicholas Hoult, John Malkovich and Teresa Palmer.
