Mouse Guard Demo Footage Is Epic

Two weeks prior to the start of production Disney canceled the Mouse Guard animated movie that was in development at Fox Studios; now director Wes Ball releases epic demo footage from the movie showing what could have been.

The Mouse Guard demo footage was created using the Unreal video game engine and is strictly used as an example of how the movie could play out and is not an indication of the final look of the film’s special effects (though it still looks pretty awesome), which was being developed by WETA, who is known for doing the VFX on Caesar for Planet of the Apes.

The footage shows visuals of the Mice and their habitat which includes a giant turtle, a predator snake, aerial shots with an owl and an ax-wielding mouse versus another mouse wielding a sword.

The movie has been compared to a Lord of The Rings, a Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and even James Cameron’s Avatar.

Watch the Mouse Guard demo footage:

Mouse Guard movie compared to Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Avatar

Regarding the exact reason why Disney canceled Mouse Guard is unknown, but in an interview with director Wes Ball, Deadline mentions reasons could include that “Disney already had a signature mouse and didn’t need one that was more like Bruce Lee than Mickey,” with other speculation being about its $170 million budget — though Ball did state they had half the movie financed in addition to California tax credits (so it sounds as if the budget wasn’t the problem).

Wes Ball also revealed the voice cast for Mouse Guard would have included Idris Elba, Andy Serkis, Maze Runner‘s Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Crazy Rich Asians’ Sonoya Mizuno, and Sylvia Hoeks looked to be involved.

It’s a shame Disney canceled the movie, as it truly looks epic, as Ball and his crew had already put over a year of work into the project.

“The concept is refreshing but familiar enough, and our approach was to take a very familiar classic hero journey story, with cutting edge technology,” Ball said. “The ambition was the spectacle you felt going to those Planet of the Apes movies, where it was stunning to watch this magic trick unfold in front of your eyes. This story was so charming and inviting, a perfect four quadrant movie, and a lot of studios loved it. I was thrilled by what we had done, and the machine we had built. I did get comments like, but it’s an IP nobody knows, or that people might not relate to mice creatures. I got all that, but my argument was that we embraced the blue people in Avatar…”

Ball has also been active on Twitter commenting on Mouse Guard, with concept art also having been released: