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Tonko House, Fox Animation Partner for Full-Length The Dam Keeper Film

The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog reported on Wednesday that Tonko House and Fox Animation are partnering for a feature-length version of Tonko House's Oscar-nominated short film "The Dam Keeper."

Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi (Hayao Miyazaki's nephew-in-law) and Robert Kondo, both former Pixar art directors, founded Tonko House in 2014 and debuted the 18-minute "The Dam Keeper" film the same year. They have been working on a feature film version of the story since the founding, and will helm the upcoming film.

Tonko House and Hulu Japan are also planning a series of shorts titled "Dam Keeper no Nakama-tachi." Another former Pixar animator, Eric Oh, will direct the series for a summer debut in Japan. In addition, a three-part graphic novel sequel to the original short is slated for 2017.

Kana Lee will be lead producer on the upcoming feature film.

In addition to creating "The Dam Keeper," the California-based studio Tonko House has worked with Japanese anime studios Craftar and Marza Animation Planet to create an animated short based on Genki Kawamura and Yūki Mashiko's picture book Moom. The short debuted on March 5 at the Cinequest Film Festival in California.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter (Borys Kit)