The avian empire is set to expand even further.
Rovio announced today that they're going with "Despicable Me" producer John Cohen for the Angry Birds movie. Cohen joins fellow Angry Birds movie staffers David Maisel, whose credits include former Chairman of Marvel Studios and executive producer of "Iron Man." Angry Birds has experimented with the silver screen before, teaming with "Rio" as part of a marketing tie-in, but this move brings them one step closer to a movie all their own.
Maisel spoke with IGN back in October about development of the movie, saying, "It's got to be everything that you'd expect from an Angry Birds movie as a fan of the game, plus so much more with surprises, innovative things, and twists," he explains. "It's something that we've worked already a lot on and we will over the next few years, but we're going to try to keep it as tight as possible so that when you go into that theater, it's an experience that you say, 'Wow, I didn't expect that.'"
An Angry Birds movie would be just another part of Rovio's plan to make Angry Birds "much bigger than Disney." The franchise is already a marketing machine, with plush toys, board games, etc. Rovio even has an Angry Birds soft drink that's managed to outsell both Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the company's home country of Finland. Between that and Angry Birds fruit snacks, it's pretty clear what type of refreshments people will buy when the Angry Birds movie comes out.
It's this kind of merchandising that is allowing Rovio to finance the movie, so they can "retain full creative control while creating innovative entertainment." Rovio plans for the movie to be a computer animated movie in 3D, and has pegged the summer of 2016 for the movie's release.