Looks like Aussies will be singing and dancing for a little while as a new production studio opens up down under for Happy Feet 2.
I never saw the first Happy Feet. Probably because I got burned out on penguins right after March of the Penguins and I didn't feel like seeing any of them doing chorus line song and dance numbers.
But the first one made $384 million dollars worldwide, so you knew a sequel was inevitable:
The sequel to Australia's Oscar-winning penguin blockbuster Happy Feet will waddle into 'life' at a new digital production facility in Sydney.
NSW Minister of State Development Ian Macdonald revealed on Sunday that Happy Feet 2, a follow-up to the singing penguins smash directed by George Miller, will employ an average of 438 people over three years.
They will include some 230 computer-generated imaging artists.
The new digital production facility is expected to provide a significant boost to the local movie industry, which has been criticised for a lack of investment in recent years.
Mr Macdonald said Happy Feet 2 and the new "Dr D" digital production facility, which he said were secured through a payroll tax assistance package, have put Sydney "once again front and centre of the national film industry."
Mr Miller, who will also direct the sequel, praised the government's assistance package and the Dr D facility, which he said had already attracted a number of big budget international film projects in the planning or pre-production stage.
"This incentive by the NSW government is a significant step. It allows us to make Happy Feet 2 in Sydney and it will be the first of many productions from our new digital studio, Dr D," he said in a statement.
"It helps us in our attempts to attract substantial foreign investment which will create hundreds of high-end, highly skilled jobs as well as nurture the careers of many people coming out of our educational institutions who would otherwise have no place to grow their talents."
Happy Feet picked up the gong for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year at the 2007 Oscars.
So, am I missing something here by not having seen Happy Feet? Let's see:
