Thor will be the first feature length animation film for Caoz, Iceland's only digital and animation studio, set up in 2001. Following the two 30 minutes CGI animation films The Caterpillar and Anna & the Moods that won several international awards and established Caoz' style - a mix between Tim Burton and Pixar films - the company is launching into its biggest adventure ever. Hilmar Sigurdssson, managing director of Caoz and producer of the film with Arnar Thorisson, says that the project has been "800 years in development", since the first ‘draft' of the story was written in 1220 by Icelandic historian and poet Snorri Sturluson in his old manuscript Snorra-EDDA. For Sigurdsson, Thor will provide a new angle on Nordic mythology. "We have just dipped into our national treasure" he says. "However, although EDDA provides great characters, it doesn't really come with a story that could be made into a feature film. So we decided to focus on the character of Thor and tell how he became a super heroic god of common people and the protector of Asgard, the city of Gods." Aside from Thor, the story will feature many other Gods and Goddesses from the old Sagas, fantastic creatures, giants and evil forces.
The script was written by Fridrik Erlingsson. Oskar Jonasson, famous for his comical background and action films will direct, and Gunnar Karlsson (director of Anna & the Moods and partner in Caoz) will be co-director, responsible for visual development.
The €7.5 film is produced at 60% by Caoz, in co-production with Germany's Ulysses and Ireland's Magma Productions, with support from the Icelandic Film Centre, and Nordisk Film & TV Fond among others. Telepool (who successfully sold Niko & the Way to the Stars to over 100 territories) has already inked a few deals, and Nordic distribution rights are in active negotiations. The film will go into production at the end of April and delivery date is set for Berlin 2011.